No abstract available. / Dissertation (MA(Theol))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

This article explores some of the recent protests in support of Black Lives Matter from a homiletical perspective. Specifically, the author argues that these protests reflect a non-traditional form of pneumatic or Spirit-inspired proclamation that can enrich the church’s preaching in a time of crisis. The article is arranged into three sections. First, a pneumatological framing of proclamation is proffered in order to interpret protest as a mode of Spirit-inspired preaching. Second, drawing on the author’s experience as a participant-observer in select protests in Southern California, three snapshots of proclamation at protests are offered. The article concludes by suggesting that the pneumatic proclamation of recent protests challenges the church in the United States to hold together three key dialectical tensions in its proclamation: lament and celebration, particularity and universality, and word and deed.

Thesis advisor: Wen Fan / This thesis investigated the impact that cancer has on young adult survivors of childhood malignancies. Existing studies explore varying physical, psychosocial, and psychological, late effects experienced by survivors of childhood cancer. However, there exists a gap in survivorship literature; young adults, and young adult survivors of childhood cancer in particular, are understudied compared to adult and pediatric survivors. Moreover, most studies address objective, clinical, aspects of cancer survivorship. They rarely focus on survivors’ subjective experiences. Yet, previous research suggests that positive cognitive appraisals of adverse life events such as cancer mitigate detrimental psychosocial and psychological symptomologies later in life. This study adopted the life course perspective to investigate the subjective experiences of young adult survivors of childhood cancer. It examined how events such as cancer diagnoses and transitions back to school are interconnected throughout one’s entire life history, rather than analyzing these specific occurrences as isolated events. Participants were invited to fill out two existing quality of life surveys and take part in an interview to explore areas of survivorship previously identified as being specific to young adult survivors. An analysis of interview transcripts and survey data revealed three major events that occur after being diagnosed with a pediatric malignancy. Furthermore, each participant not only recalled positive subjective experiences over the course of these checkpoints, but ultimately found positive meaning from their cancer experience. This thesis suggests that positive subjective experiences soon after a cancer diagnosis are critical in ensuring that patients have favorable conceptions of their journeys and their aftermath. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Sociology.

DevOps, a portmanteau of Development and Operations, is the collection of principles and practices that try to improve cooperation between IT Development and IT Operations teams in the software development domain. The DevOps paradigm, thus, promises to overcome the traditional boundaries between development and operations teams and to improve collaboration across teams through a culture that is conducive to shared goals and accountability. Responding to the recent call for a better understanding of DevOps Knowledge Management (KM), this study aims to explore the role of knowledge management in advancing DevOps performance outcomes. Toward this, the study adopts a practice perspective of KM, and aims to answer the following research questions: 1) What are the enablers of KM practices in DevOps teams? 2) What are the distinctive characteristics of KM practices that underpin positive DevOps performance outcomes? Using an inductive research design and qualitative data collection and analysis procedures, this study followed a multiple case study approach, and collected and analyzed data from nine in-depth interviews with DevOps professionals across three organizations. Using grounded theory coding procedures, an emergent theoretical model of DevOps KM is presented and discussed, along with various propositions that outline how DevOps teams acquire, capture, share and apply knowledge, and how their KM practices can drive positive DevOps performance. Key insights from this study indicate that technology leaders need to foster greater awareness about the significance of KM in DevOps teams. This can be done by highlighting challenges associated with a lack of effective KM practices, and best practices followed by other companies. Furthermore, DevOps teams should adopt a mix of people-centered and technology-centered KM practices that enable effective personalization and codification of knowledge. Lastly, DevOps managers need to encourage alternative-bridging KM practices through regular use of KM tools and features within DevOps technologies while investing in dedicated knowledge sharing platforms. Through a discussion of the enablers of KM practices in DevOps; typical configuration of people-centered, technology-centered, and alternative-bridging KM practices in DevOps; and the linkages between KM practices and DevOps performance outcomes, this study aims to contribute to the extant research literature on DevOps KM, and provide practical guidelines for institutionalizing KM practices that can support the fast-paced nature of DevOps teams.

Book Summary: Nurses play a key role in high-quality health care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD)--and now this up-to-date textbook fully prepares them to provide patients with the best possible services across the lifespan. The most comprehensive text available for nurses who specialize in IDD, this essential book clarifies evidence-based practices and gives readers an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to care that meets each person's individual needs. Cecily Betz and Wendy Nehring--authors of the respected text Promoting Health Care Transitions for Adolescents with Special Health Care Needs and Disabilities--gather the latest research and wisdom of 18 diverse authorities in the medical field. Together, they give pre- and in-service nurses the foundation of knowledge they need to help ensure equal access to health care for people with IDD choose from today's models and philosophies of carepromote their patients' psychosocial developmentprovide effective physical careconduct health assessments and develop individualized plans of caremaintain successful interdisciplinary collaboration with other professionals address the issues associated with specific disabilities, including autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, fragile X, sensory impairment, and medical and behavioral health problems support developmental transitions across the lifespan expand their knowledge of genetics and apply it to nursing practice skillfully manage ethical and legal issuesunderstand the service agencies used by individuals with IDD Enhanced with clinical practice guidelines to support effective work with individuals who have IDD, this textbook lights every nurse's path to person-centered, evidence-based care that improves their patients' lives.

The Canadian Online Harms Legislation (COHL) proposal identifies proactive Automated Moderation as a solution to classifying and removing online content which violates norms such as hate. Emerging automated moderation algorithms include Google Perspective, a machine learning model which scores hateful features in text content as “toxicity.” This study identifies that hateful community content norms are currently emerging on volunteer user moderation platforms such as Reddit. To operationalize these concepts, a Theoretical Framework is constructed using Gorwa’s (2019) Platform Governance models and Massanari’s (2017) overview of Toxic Technoculture communities. While previous research exploring community toxicity is discussed, there is a gap in research which analyzes the Post, Comment, and Image Meme contributions of Reddit Moderator users to hateful community content norms. As such, an analysis of the Reddit community R/Metacanada is constructed which compares the toxicity of Moderator and user contributions using Google Perspective. The results of the applied Mann-Whitney U test analysis indicate that r/Metacanada Moderators and users contribute content at similar toxicity levels. Supplementing these tests, RQ1 then structures a qualitative analysis of false negative results which may emerge in the automated classification of multi-modal image content. Identifying that hate in online memes is structured through layered Signifier and Signified elements, a critical discussion is established which interprets potential marginalizing effects of the COHL’s automated moderation applying Noble’s (2018) theory of Technological Redlining. As such, this thesis immerses itself within the contemporary context of online content regulation, drawing upon existing conceptualizations and methodological approaches, offering a critical discussion of regulating hate content using automated algorithms.

Destination competitiveness has become a critical issue in today's increasingly challenging tourism market. Many studies have indicated that tourists and their needs stand as the ultimate driving force which influences competition and competitiveness in the tourism destination. Today, destinations eventually compete on the quality of tourism experience offered to visitors. However, limited research has been undertaken to examine destination competitiveness from the tourists' perspective. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of quality of tourism experience on tourists' perception of destination competitiveness. A destination competitiveness model based on the perceptions of tourists and a measurement instrument to assess the constructs of the model were developed for this study. The model proposes that tourists' perceived destination competitiveness is affected by the quality of tourism experience, which includes the experience in pre-trip planning, en-route, on-site, and after-trip (reflection) phases. Furthermore, tourist involvement, as an important salient dimension of consumer behavior, is introduced into the model as a moderating factor in the relationship between quality of tourism experience and perceived destination competitiveness. The sample population of this study consists of residents of Virginia who are 18 years old or above and took at least one leisure trip away from home in the past 18 months. Three hundred and fifty-three usable questionnaires were utilized in the data analysis of the study. Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis were performed to test the study hypotheses. The results indicated that the quality of tourism experience and tourists' perception of destination competitiveness do relate to each other as substantiated by the existence of shared common variances between these two major constructs. The study also revealed that tourists' perception of destination competitiveness is positively influenced by the quality of tourism experience in terms of different phases (pre-trip planning, en-route experience, on-site instrumental experience, on-site expressive experience, and after-trip reflection). Furthermore, tourist involvement appears to have a moderating effect on the relationship between pre-trip planning experience, en-route experience, on-site expressive experience, and perceived destination competitiveness. The study also provided managerial implications to destination managers and marketers based on the research findings. / Ph. D.

Eating-disorder clients show low motivation, poor follow-through, and inordinate premature dropout rates in treatment. To date, little research has been conducted that might provide clinicians with an understanding of the critical factors that may aid clients' recovery. Such factors may be used by clinicians to better motivate clients to collaborate in treatment. The purpose of this study was to identify some of the critical factors that women with eating disorders believed were crucial in prompting or facilitating their recovery. Identification of these factors was accomplished through a systematic content analysis of semistructured interviews with recovered or recovering bulimics and anorexics. This study may contribute significantly to future research into the development of motivational supplements to eating disorder therapy (e.g., psychoeducational materials or therapy orientation programs). Of interest were what personal, interpersonal, or environmental factors anorexic and bulimic clients reported increased their motivation to recover, and prompted them to begin the recovery process, maintain recovery, and cope with the threat ofrelapse. Also, factors that subjects reported hindered their progress in recovery were examined. The anorexic and bulimic subjects reported social support as a critical factor across three stages of recovery, including beginning recovery, maintaining recovery, and coping with relapse. Being "tired" of the disorder and therapy were indicated to be relevant to beginning recovery. Improved self-esteem was deemed significant in helping subjects both maintain recovery and cope with the threat of relapse. Establishing healthy eating habits and attitudes was a necessary factor required to maintain recovery. Subjects shared that developing healthy ways to deal with emotions enabled them to deal successfully with the threat of relapse. Anorexic subjects reported that people and societal expectations, fear of becoming fat, incentive to numb emotions, and poor eating habits and attitudes impeded their recovery. Bulimic subjects indicated that people and societal expectations, incentive to numb emotions, lack of understanding, and poor eating habits and attitudes hindered their recovery.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The current study examined African American participants’ perceptions of and reactions to a White ally vs. a Black target (vs. a no confrontation control condition) prejudice confrontation. Based on intergroup helping theories suggesting that low-status group members question high-status helper motivations and consequently feel disempowered by their help (Fisher, Nadler, & Whitcher-Alagna, 1982; Nadler, 2002), we predicted that participants would report lower empowerment when a White vs. Black person confronted on their behalf, and that perceived confronter motivation would mediate the effect of confronter group membership on empowerment. To test these hypotheses, we recruited African American participants (N = 477) via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, randomly assigned them to either a no confrontation control, target confrontation, or ally confrontation condition, and then assessed participants’ sense of psychological empowerment and perceptions of the confronter’s motivation. The results supported our predictions for the primary dependent variables, and mediation analyses provided evidence for a causal model such that confronter group membership affected participants’ psychological empowerment via their perceptions of the confronter’s motivation. The findings suggest that although both target and ally confrontations are preferable to no confrontation, allies should be aware of the possible disempowering effect of their confronting on targets of prejudice and the importance of their own motivations when engaging in prejudice confrontation. The current study further emphasizes the importance of representing targets’ perspectives in studies of prejudice.

No description available.