Strategic Growth Areas (SGAs)
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Similar to Destination Areas in structure, Strategic Growth Areas are smaller and aim for regional or national leadership. Strategic Growth Areas represent additional areas of strength, identified by a faculty survey conducted in January 2016. SGAs may mature into Destination Areas.
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Browsing Strategic Growth Areas (SGAs) by Content Type "Article"
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- Autism and RhetoricHeilker, Paul V.; Yergeau, M. (National Council of Teachers of English, 2011-05)By understanding the verbal and nonverbal manifestations of autism as a rhetorical imperative, a perspective that involves applying Krista Ratcliffe's concept of rhetorical listening, scholars can do much to dissolve the idea of otherness that appears in discussions of this topic.
- Biosignal-driven Art: Beyond biofeedbackOrtiz, Miguel A.; Coghlan, Niall; Jaimovich, Javier; Knapp, R. Benjamin (CMMAS, 2011)Biosignal monitoring in interactive arts, although present for over forty years, remains a relatively little known field of research within the artistic community as compared to other sensing technologies. Since the early 1960s, an ever-increasing number of artists have collaborated with neuroscientists, physicians and electrical engineers, in order to devise means that allow for the acquisition of the minuscule electrical potentials generated by the human body. This has enabled direct manifestations of human physiology to be incorporated into interactive artworks. This paper presents an introduction to this field of artistic practice and scientific research that uses human physiology as its main element. A brief introduction to the main concepts and history of biosignal-driven art is followed by a review of various artworks and scientific enquiry developed by the authors. This aims at giving a complete overview of the various strategies developed for biosignal-driven interactive art.
- A Black Woman’s Search for the Transdisciplinary Applied Social Justice Model: Encounters with Critical Race Feminism, Black Feminism, and Africana StudiesPratt-Clarke, Menah (Itibari M. Zulu, 2012-03)This work examines my journey, as a descendant of the Creoles of Freetown, Sierra Leone, on my father’s side, and former enslaved Africans of rural Texas on my mother’s side, to construct and develop the Transdisciplinary Applied Social Justice (TASJ©) model. The TASJ model is an Afrocentric, praxis-oriented, theoretical, and methodological approach for addressing the marginalization, exclusion, and disenfranchisement of people of color, and women of color, in particular. This article documents the development of the TASJ model using personal narrative and demonstrates its connections to Black Feminism and Critical Race Feminism. In addition, the model’s contribution to Africana Studies is examined. Key contributions include its transdisciplinary focus; its recognition of the importance of intertwined identities, including race and gender; and its commitment to social justice activism and social movements.
- Compassionately Hidden: The Church Telling Local Homeless to “Come to Our House"Oliver, Robert D.; Robinson, Matthew; Koebel, C. Theodore (Gamma Theta Upsilon, 2015)In early 2011, the To Our House (TOH) thermal shelter program opened its doors to homeless men in the New River Valley Area (NRV) of Virginia. The program was a grass roots response to the death of a well-known local homeless man and the goal of the program is to provide winter shelter for single adult men by using rotating host sites at local churches. We highlight that in the NRV local churches have sought to remedy a socially unjust situation by providing shelter for men that was previously unavailable. We illustrate that faith-based outreach in the New River Valley can be viewed as positive compassionate outreach by a caring community. While acknowledging the benefits of this compassionate outreach to more than 25 men in the NRV, we also offer a cautionary note regarding the dilemmas of this outreach suggesting that it has the potential to mask the problems of the local housing market.
- Confronting Challenges at the Intersection of Rurality, Place, and Teacher Preparation: Improving Efforts in Teacher Education to Staff Rural SchoolsAzano, Amy Price; Stewart, Trevor Thomas (Mercy College, 2016)Recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers in rural schools is a persistent struggle in many countries, including the U.S. While rural education researchers have long lamented the struggle to recruit and retain teachers, there is relatively little known about intentional efforts to prepare teachers, specifically, for rural classrooms. Salient challenges related to poverty, geographic isolation, low teacher salaries, and a lack of community amenities seem to trump perks of living in rural communities. Recognizing this issue as a complex and hard to solve fixture in the composition of rural communities, we sought to understand how teacher preparation programs might better prepare preservice teachers for successful student teaching placements and, ideally, eventual careers in rural schools. In this study, we explore teacher candidates’ perceptions of rurality while examining how specific theory, pedagogy, and practice influence their feelings of preparedness for working in a rural school. Using pre- and post- questionnaire data, classroom observations, and reflections, we assess the effectiveness of deliberate efforts in our teacher preparation program to increase readiness for rural teaching. In our analysis and discussion, we draw on critical and sociocultural theories to understand the experiences of a cohort of teacher candidates as they explore personal histories, the importance of place, expectations, and teaching strategies for rural contexts. We conclude our article with recommendations for enhancing teacher preparation programs in ways that might result in significant progress toward the goal of staffing rural schools with the highly skilled teachers all students deserve.
- CULTIVATING COMPLEXITY: How I Stopped Driving The Innovation Train And Started Planting Seeds In The Community GardenMathews, Brian (2017-09-14)The last two decades have ushered transformative change across libraries. We have reimagined collections, revolutionized spaces, introduced numerous technologies, and greatly expanded our service offerings. Yet despite all of these advances, our organizational structures have remained largely the same. This paper serves as an invitation to explore evolutionary paths for academic and research libraries. I offer my leadership journey as a conversational example, moving from a focus on productivity and serving as a driver of innovation toward a role as facilitator and gardener, helping to nurture the work environment to grow more organically. By rethinking how we interact with our colleagues, we can cultivate a more creative culture that enables us to be more resilient and better situated to tackle the complex and unpredictable nature of the work that lies ahead.
- CURATING THE CAMPUS, CURATING CHANGE: A collection of eight vignettesMathews, Brian; Badua, Jenizza (2016-10)As librarians, we select, collect, integrate, and manage diverse forms of information. Imagine if we apply this foundation in a new context: partnerships across the campus environment. In buildings all around us, students and faculty are using, sharing, and creating knowledge. This presents a tremendous opportunity for us to venture forth and empower our communities. Vignettes include: classroom building, research building, labs, studios, exhibits & displays, atriums & lobbies, living learning community, and incubators.
- An Empirical Analysis of International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) Annual SurveysWeisband, Edward; Colvin, Christopher (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000-02)
- Environmental Injustice and the Pursuit of a Post-Carbon World: The Unintended Consequences of the Clean Air Act as a Cautionary Tale for Solar Energy DevelopmentBell, Shannon E. (Brooklyn Law School, 2017-01-01)The combustion of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas) and, to a lesser extent, changes in land cover, have led to a rise in greenhouse gasses (GHG) in the atmosphere and an increase in global average surface temperatures.¹ This human-induced warming is causing dramatic changes in the climate that are manifesting in numerous ways throughout the world, including an intensification of storms, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, salt-water intrusion of fresh-water aquifers, more frequent and extreme floods, droughts, and heat waves, changes in the range and occurrence of certain infectious diseases, declines in agricultural productivity, and social upheaval resulting from competition for scarce resources.² Arguably, the transition to a post-carbon³ world is urgent, but thus far little progress has been made toward curbing carbon emissions in the United States and globally.⁴ Even the recent Paris Accord—which was lauded as a “historic breakthrough” and “landmark” climate deal⁵—falls far short of what many scientists argue is needed to limit the rise in global temperatures to a safe level. While the Paris Negotiations yielded an agreement to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels” and to “pursu[e] efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C,”⁶ the emission cuts in the agreement are voluntary pledges made by governments and do not actually come close to achieving the 1.5-degree, or even the 2-degree, goal.⁷ The limited outcomes of the Paris Accord should not indicate a lack of grassroots support for effective international policy aimed at addressing climate change, however. On the eve of the Paris Negotiations, over 750,000 people from more than 175 countries took to the streets in what was collectively called the Global Climate March.⁸ Their message to world leaders was a demand to leave “fossil fuels in the ground and [to] finance a just transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050.”⁹ Protests have continued since the Paris Negotiations, such as the “Break Free” demonstrations organized by 350.org during May 2016 that again urged leaders across the world to “break free” from fossil fuels and to make a shift to one hundred percent renewable energy.¹⁰ But what does that transition look like? Many argue that well-designed environmental regulations have the potential to engender technological innovation.¹¹ But can technological fixes really provide a sustainable future for all of us?
- Environmental Remediation to Address Childhood Lead Poisoning Epidemic due to Artisanal Gold Mining in Zamfara, NigeriaTirima, Simba; Bartrem, Casey; von Lindern, Ian; von Braun, Margrit; Lind, Douglas; Anka, Shehu Mohammed; Abdullahi, Aishat (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 2016-09)Background: From 2010 through 2013, integrated health and environmental responses addressed an unprecedented epidemic lead poisoning in Zamfara State, northern Nigeria. Artisanal gold mining caused widespread contamination resulting in the deaths of > 400 children. Socioeconomic, logistic, and security challenges required remediation and medical protocols within the context of local resources, labor practices, and cultural traditions. Objectives: Our aim was to implement emergency environmental remediation to abate exposures to 17,000 lead poisoned villagers, to facilitate chelation treatment of children ≤ 5 years old, and to establish local technical capacity and lead health advocacy programs to prevent future disasters. Methods: U.S. hazardous waste removal protocols were modified to accommodate local agricultural practices. Remediation was conducted over 4 years in three phases, progressing from an emergency response by international personnel to comprehensive cleanup funded and accomplished by the Nigerian government. Results: More than 27,000 m³ of contaminated soils and mining waste were removed from 820 residences and ore processing areas in eight villages, largely by hand labor, and disposed in constructed landfills. Excavated areas were capped with clean soils (≤ 25 mg/kg lead), decreasing soil lead concentrations by 89%, and 2,349 children received chelation treatment. Pre-chelation geometric mean blood lead levels for children ≤ 5 years old decreased from 149 μg/dL to 15 μg/dL over the 4-year remedial program. Conclusions: The unprecedented outbreak and response demonstrate that, given sufficient political will and modest investment, the world’s most challenging environmental health crises can be addressed by adapting proven response protocols to the capabilities of host countries. Citation: Tirima S, Bartrem C, von Lindern I, von Braun M, Lind D, Anka SM, Abdullahi A. 2016. Environmental remediation to address childhood lead poisoning epidemic due to artisanal gold mining in Zamfara, Nigeria. Environ Health Perspect 124:1471–1478; http://dx.doi. org/10.1289/ehp.1510145
- Experimental Investigation of Sound Transmission Loss in Concrete Containing Recycled Rubber CrumbsChalangaran, Navid; Farzampour, Alireza; Paslar, Nima; Fatemi, Hadi (Technopress, 2021-05-15)This study represents procedures and material to improve sound transmission loss through concrete without having any significant effects on mechanical properties. To prevent noise pollution damaging effects, and for reducing the transmission of the noises from streets to residential buildings, sound absorbing materials could be effectively produced. For this purpose, a number of several mixture designs have been investigated in this study to reduce the sound transmission through concrete, including control sample and three mixtures with recycled rubber with sizes of from 1mm up to 3 mm to limit the sound transmission. The rubber is used as a replacement of 5, 10, and 15 percent of sand aggregates. First, 7, 14 and 28-day strengths of the concrete have been measured. Subsequently, the sound transmission losses through the samples have been measured at the range of 63 Hz up to 6300 Hz by using impedance tube and the transfer function. The results show specimens containing 15% fine-grained crumbs, the loss of sound transmission were up to 190%, and for samples with 15% coarse-grained rubber, the loss of sound transmission were up to 228%, respectively. It is shown that concrete with recycled rubber crumbs could effectively improve environmental noise absorption.
- Feed the Future IPM Innovation Lab: A Critical Role in Global Food SecurityMuniappan, Rangaswamy (Muni); Heinrichs, Elvis A. (Research Information Ltd., 2015-08)The need: food security The World Food Summit of 1966 defined “food security” as existing “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.” Food insecurity is part of a continuum that includes hunger (food deprivation), malnutrition (deficiencies, imbalances, or excess of nutrients) and famine. Although difficult to measure, food security statistics indicate that there is a food crisis in a stressed world. Consider these facts: • 805 million people suffer from malnutrition. • Most of the 805 million are in Southern Asia (35%), sub-Saharan Africa (27%), and Eastern Asia (19%). • 99% of the undernourished live in developing countries. • 642 million people in Asia and the Pacific are undernourished. • 6 million children’s deaths/year are linked to malnutrition.
- “Figuring Out Your Place at a School Like This:” Intersectionality and Sense of Belonging in CollegeOvink, Sarah; Byrd, Carson; Nanney, Megan Paige; Wilson, Abigail (2022-01-25)
- Gender Disparity in Third World Technological, Social, and Economic DevelopmentAkubue, Anthony I. (Epsilon Pi Tau and Virginia Tech Libraries, 2001)Despite their seemingly intractable problems, Third World countries have made remarkable progress in improving the well-being of their people in recent decades… A troubling concern, however, is the notion that gains from progress have not been equally beneficial to the genders… This article is about Third World women in relation to technological and socioeconomic progress. It examines the differential gender outcome of this progress and probable causes…
- How KANERE Free Press Resists BiopowerDeramo, Michele C. (York University, 2016)How does a free press resist state biopower? This article studies the development and dissemination of KANERE Free Press, a refugee-run news source operating in the Kakuma Refugee Camp, that was founded to create “a more open society in refugee camps and to develop a platform for fair public debate on refugee affairs” (KANERE Vision Statement). The analysis of KANERE and its impact on the political subjectivity of refugees living in Kakuma is framed by Foucault’s theory of biopower, the state-sanctioned right to “make live or let die” in its management of human populations. The author demonstrates the force relations between KANERE, its host country of Kenya, and the UNHCR through two ongoing stories covered by KANERE: the broad rejection of the MixMe nutritional supplement and the expressed disdain for the camp’s World Refugees Day celebration. Using ethnographic and decolonizing methodologies, the author privileges the voices and perspectives of the KANERE editors and the Kakuma residents they interviewed in order to provide a ground-level view of refugee’s lived experiences in Kakuma. As KANERE records refugees’ experiences of life in the camp, they construct a narrative community that is simultaneously produced by and resistant to the regulations and control of camp administration and state sovereignty. In doing so, KANERE creates a transgressive space that reaches beyond the confines of the camp.
- ICT for Development in Rural India: A Longitudinal Study of Women's Health OutcomesVenkatesh, Viswanath; Sykes, Tracy Ann; Zhang, Xiaojun (Society for Information Management, 2020-06-01)With a view toward improving the success of information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives in less developed countries in general and India in particular, this work seeks to uncover reasons for success and failure of ICT for development (ICT4D) initiatives. We drew on social networks theory in general and social contagion theory in particular, and examined the impact of advice network constructs on ICT kiosk use and the impact of ICT kiosk use on women's health outcomes (i.e., seeking modern medical care and maternal mortality). A two-level model (i.e., village and individual) was developed to understand how women in rural India were influenced by other women in their advice networks to use ICT kiosks, and the effects of ICT kiosk use on seeking modern medical care and maternal mortality. At the village level, we proposed lead user network effects. At the individual level, we proposed structural network effects of other women in a focal woman's network on individual outcomes of ICT kiosk use, seeking modern medical care, and maternal mortality. We focused on network position (i.e., centrality) and network tie strength (i.e., strong ties and weak ties) as explanatory variables. Specifically, we argued that strong tie centrality will have an adverse effect on ICT kiosk use, whereas weak tie centrality will have a favorable effect. We also argued ICT kiosk use will have a positive effect on seeking modern medical care and a negative effect on maternal mortality. Finally, we argued that seeking modern medical care will have a negative effect on maternal mortality. Our model was mostly supported in data collected about 6,710 women in 10 intervention group villages in rural India and 8,344 women in the control group villages over a period of approximately 7 years.
- Impacts of process-induced porosity on material properties of copper made by binder jetting additive manufacturingKumar, Ashwath Yegyan; Wang, Jue; Bai, Yun; Huxtable, Scott T.; Williams, Christopher B. (Elsevier, 2019-07-03)Binder Jetting (BJ) is an efficient, economical, and scalable Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology that can be used in fabricating parts made of reflective and conductivematerials like copper, which have applications in advanced thermal and electrical components. The primary challenge of BJ is in producing fully dense, homogeneous partswithout infiltration. To this end, copper parts of porosities ranging from2.7% to 16.4%were fabricated via BJ, by varying powder morphology, post-process sintering, and Hot Isostatic Pressing conditions. The aim of this study is to characterize and quantify the effects of porosity on the material properties of Binder Jet pure copper parts. Copper parts with the lowest porosity of 2.7% demonstrated a tensile strength of 176 MPa (80.2% of wrought strength), a thermal conductivity of 327.9 W/m·K (84.5% that ofwrought copper), and an electrical conductivity of 5.6 × 107 S/m (96.6% IACS). The porosity-property relationship in these parts was compared against theoretical and empiricalmodels in the literature for similar structures. These studies contribute towards developing a scientific understanding of the process-property-performance relationship in BJ of copper and other printed metals, which can help in tailoring materials and processing conditions to achieve desired properties.
- Intra-Ring Compression Strength of Low Density HardwoodsZink-Sharp, Audrey G.; Price, Carlile (Universidad del Bío-Bío, 2006)Engineered wood composites are being crafted with increasingly smaller and smaller components, yet a search of the literature indicates a lack of intra-ring mechanical property data for almost all commercial wood types, particularly the underutilized low density hardwoods. In addition, there is no universally accepted testing regime for determining micromechanical properties of wood samples. As a result, we developed a testing system for determining compression, tension, and bending properties of growth ring regions of wood samples. Our microtesting system consists of a 45.4 kg load stage, motor drive, data acquisition system, motor control, load cell, strain transducer, and software. In this study, intra-ring compression strength parallel to the grain was determined for small samples (a few ml3 in volume) of sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), and red maple (Acer rubrum). It was determined that compression strength is weakly correlated with specific gravity but unrelated to growth rate. Specific gravity was also unrelated to growth rate. Sweetgum values were intermediate between yellow-poplar and red maple.
- Librarian as Futurist: Changing the Way Libraries Think About the FutureMathews, Brian (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014-07)Are librarians preoccupied with the future? There are countless books, articles, blog posts, webinars, and conference presentations filled with speculation about what libraries will become. This is understandable with the emergence of new roles for libraries and librarians as we determine our identity across the digital landscape. This essay offers guidance for thinking about the future. By adopting the cognitive tools and mindsets used by practitioners of strategic foresight, library leaders can position their organizations for greater impact and value. Knowing how to discover, design, assess, and address possible future scenarios is becoming increasingly critical, and this skill should become part of our professional fluency.
- Mitigation of bidirectional solute flux in forward osmosis via membrane surface coating of zwitterion functionalized carbon nanotubesZou, Shiqiang; Smith, Ethan D.; Lin, Shihong; Martin, Stephen M.; He, Zhen (Elsevier, 2019-07-08)Forward osmosis (FO) has emerged as a promising membrane technology to yield high-quality reusable water from various water sources. A key challenge to be solved is the bidirectional solute flux (BSF), including reverse solute flux (RSF) and forward solute flux (FSF). Herein, zwitterion functionalized carbon nanotubes (Z-CNTs) have been coated onto a commercial thin film composite (TFC) membrane, resulting in BSF mitigation via both electrostatic repulsion forces induced by zwitterionic functional groups and steric interactions with CNTs. At a coating density of 0.97 gm⁻², a significantly reduced specific RSF was observed for multiple draw solutes, including NaCl (55.5% reduction), NH₄H₂PO₄(83.8%), (NH₄)₂HPO₄ (74.5%), NH₄Cl (70.8%), and NH₄HCO₃ (61.9%). When a synthetic wastewater was applied as the feed to investigate membrane rejection, FSF was notably reduced by using the coated membrane with fewer pollutants leaked to the draw solution, including NH₄⁺-N (46.3% reduction), NO₂⁻₋N (37.0%), NO₂⁻₋N (30.3%), K⁺ (56.1%), PO₄³⁻₋P (100%), and Mg²⁺ (100%). When fed with real wastewater, a consistent water flux was achieved during semi-continuous operation with enhanced fouling resistance. This study is among the earliest efforts to address BSF control via membrane modification, and the results will encourage further exploration of effective strategies to reduce BSF.