scholarly journals The End of Flying: Coronavirus Confinement, Academic (Im)mobilities and Me

Author(s):  
Mimi Sheller

AbstractThis chapter focuses on how the coronavirus pandemic disrupted ‘normal’ academic life and travel through an analysis of my own travel history over the past decade. After contextualising the ways in which quarantines and confinement radically decreased travel, the chapter has three parts. In the first part, I document my own curriculum vitae of academic travel over the past decade and quantitatively measure my estimated CO2 emissions. Next, I seek to situate the value of such academic travel in both quantitative and qualitative terms, through extrinsic measures such as publications and impact and through intrinsic values such as the experience of different cultures and places. Lastly, I look at the transition to virtual events and my own participation in online events during the past nine months and consider the relation between physical and virtual meetings within academic practices. Insofar as the pandemic demonstrated our ability to transform academic travel and accelerate the use of remote meetings within academic practices, a pressing concern is how to find ways of extending this into the post-pandemic phase. Among the questions I ask in conclusion are: What possibilities are there for more seriously extending remote no-fly meetings to address the climate emergency? And what are the implications of such changes, both positive and negative?

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 452-452
Author(s):  
E. K. M.

In 1958, when James D. Watson worked his way up to the rank of Associate Professor at Harvard, the young biochemist had on his curriculum vitae eighteen papers ... today the bibliography of a candidate ... often lists 50 or even a hundred papers. ... Paper inflation has become a fact of academic life during the past two decades.... The increases stem not from a sharp rise in productivity but rather from changes in the way people publish. Co-authorship is on the rise, as is multiple publication of the same data. The length of papers, meanwhile, has been decreasing. A researcher publishes four short papers rather than one long one. This fragmentation contributes to a host of problems not the least being the sheer growth of the literature. One estimate holds that the Index Medicus for 1985 will weigh more than one ton.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (12) ◽  
pp. 81-88
Author(s):  
Sandy K. Bowen ◽  
Silvia M. Correa-Torres

America's population is more diverse than ever before. The prevalence of students who are culturally and/or linguistically diverse (CLD) has been steadily increasing over the past decade. The changes in America's demographics require teachers who provide services to students with deafblindness to have an increased awareness of different cultures and diversity in today's classrooms, particularly regarding communication choices. Children who are deafblind may use spoken language with appropriate amplification, sign language or modified sign language, and/or some form of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).


Author(s):  
Joseph Mazur

While all of us regularly use basic mathematical symbols such as those for plus, minus, and equals, few of us know that many of these symbols weren't available before the sixteenth century. What did mathematicians rely on for their work before then? And how did mathematical notations evolve into what we know today? This book explains the fascinating history behind the development of our mathematical notation system. It shows how symbols were used initially, how one symbol replaced another over time, and how written math was conveyed before and after symbols became widely adopted. Traversing mathematical history and the foundations of numerals in different cultures, the book looks at how historians have disagreed over the origins of the number system for the past two centuries. It follows the transfigurations of algebra from a rhetorical style to a symbolic one, demonstrating that most algebra before the sixteenth century was written in prose or in verse employing the written names of numerals. It also investigates the subconscious and psychological effects that mathematical symbols have had on mathematical thought, moods, meaning, communication, and comprehension. It considers how these symbols influence us (through similarity, association, identity, resemblance, and repeated imagery), how they lead to new ideas by subconscious associations, how they make connections between experience and the unknown, and how they contribute to the communication of basic mathematics. From words to abbreviations to symbols, this book shows how math evolved to the familiar forms we use today.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Donaldson C. Lee ◽  
Alexander M. Kofskey ◽  
Nikhi P. Singh ◽  
Timothy W. King ◽  
Paul D. Piennette

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted residency recruitment in 2020, posing unique challenges for programs and applicants alike. Anesthesiology programs have adopted alternate methods of recruitment, including virtual open houses and social media, due to limiting personal contact rules implemented by AAMC. This study was undertaken to determine the frequency of virtual events hosted and social media accounts created by programs. Methods Anesthesiology residency programs and departments were examined for social media presence on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Programs’ websites and social media posts were reviewed for virtual open house opportunities. Available sub-internships were collected from the Visiting Student Application Service database. Data was collected after 2020–2021 pre-interview recruitment in October 2020. Results Of 153 total anesthesiology residency programs, 96 (63%) had some form of social media presence. The platforms of choice for programs with social media accounts included Twitter (71, or 46%), Instagram (67, or 44%), and Facebook (47, or 31%). Forty of seventy-six residency-affiliated accounts were created after March 1, 2020; Instagram accounts (26 of 40) represented most of these. Most Anesthesiology programs (59%) offered virtual open houses for prospective applicants. Twitter (25%), Instagram (22%), and Facebook (8%) were used by programs to advertise these events. Conclusions Social media presence of anesthesiology residency programs has grown steadily over the past decade, with exponential growth experienced in 2020. This data suggests that anesthesiology residency programs are employing new, mostly virtual, methods to reach prospective applicants during an unprecedented application cycle amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 125-145
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Kretek-Kamińska ◽  
Aneta Krzewińska

This article describes changes in student–teacher relations in the context of academic institutions and variation in methods of teaching. On the basis of empirical research (interviews conducted currently among employees of Polish institutions of higher learning and analysis of source materials concerning the past) the authors advance the thesis that the figure of the mentor—which was once associated with scholarship and academic institutions—has ceased to have meaning for contemporary scholars. Instead of mentors, persons who are called “quasi-mentors” have appeared; they act temporarily as guides for young scholars and most often perform only one of the functions formerly fulfilled by mentors (for instance, organizers of academic life, seekers for research funds, promoters of doctoral theses, etc.). The authors consider that these alterations have been caused by general processes of economic, technological, political, and axiological change.


Author(s):  
Andrew Targowski

The purpose of this chapter is to define intrinsic values of information-communication processes in human development. The development of civilization depends upon the accumulation of wisdom, knowledge and cultural and infrastructural gain. Man is prouder of his heritage than of that which he can eventually achieve in the future. The future is often the threat of the imminent unknown, something that can destroy our stability, qualifications and position within society. On the other hand, the “future” is also the hope of the desperate for a better life.


Author(s):  
Nilüfer Pembecioğlu ◽  
Uğur Gündüz

The women issue is important not only in Western but also in Eastern cultures. Positioned in between the East and West, Turkey always provides an interesting collection of cases and data. Apart from the daily consumption of the women images and realities, the image of the women is also mobile when it comes to the press, and thus, this mobility is extended worldwide through the new media possibilities in the age of information. However, the contradictory images of the different cultures were displayed in the history of media as well. This chapter aims to put forward how the positioning of women in the past took place specifically in the case of Titanic news on the press of the time. The chapter questions the similarities and differences of handling women in news comparing and contrasting the Western journalism of the time and Ottoman press coverage.


Author(s):  
SAFARY WA-MBALEKA ◽  
SAMUEL GAIKWAD

One of the major effects of globalization is the heavy migration all over the world in the past two to three decades. For different purposes related to job, studies, security, religious freedom or other social reasons, millions of people are moving on a yearly basis from a country or continent to another. Students in need of better quality or maybe cheaper higher education are traveling to foreign lands and staying there for four, six, eight, or even more years. They learn from and with people of different cultures, religion, race, and worldviews. Given that globalization has pushed the phenomenon of diversity on most university campuses, it is important for higher education institutions to promote and guarantee equity, diversity, and inclusiveness for all students without distinction of culture, gender, religion, or race. The current study is a survey of the climate of higher education in several higher education institutions with considerable number of international students in the Luzon region of the Philippines. The study aimed at investigating the discriminatory practices that are common in schools that hosts international students. Results revealed that, even though there are areas where international students expressed feeling discriminated against, the climate in higher education institutions is positive for most international students.Keywords: Higher education, social studies, international students, discrimination,quantitative research, survey, Luzon, Philippines, Asia


2006 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 67-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Bilal

Nınçir mangig im sirasun, Oror yem asum, Baydzar lusinn e meğm hayum, Ko ororotsum.By analyzing the transmission of Armenian lullabies within the changing contexts of identity and cultural politics in Turkey, this paper addresses displacement and loss as two interrelated experiences shaping the sense of being an Armenian in Turkey. I criticize the liberal multiculturalist perspective that represents cultures in a way that cuts the link between the past and the present, by dissociating different cultures from the history of their presence in Anatolia and the destruction of that presence. I argue that in such a context where cultures are detached from lived experiences and memory, it becomes impossible to share the stories of violence and pain in the public sphere; hence, the loss itself becomes the experience of being Armenian. Finally, I try to explain how today young generations of Armenians in İstanbul, in their search for an Armenian identity, have developed a certain way of belonging to the space and culture, a way of belonging that is very much shaped by the experience of loss.


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shafag Dadashova

The study discusses epistemological aspects of power and the dynamics of its perception in the process of life-writing. Autobiography is presented as a specific form of epiphany. The paper suggests that writing one’s own life enables the author to better understand the past. As a result of a retrospective self-analysis the writer shapes a new look at the borders of his/her personal power and the level of its dependence on others. In investigation of life-writings, a qualitative method of social sciences in combination with hermeneutics, close reading and discourse analysis reveal deep and hidden social norms, gender roles, religion, and their role in empowerment and disempowerment of the author. The study consists of two parts. The first part is theoretical and interrogates the notion of personal power. It finds links between writing the own life and conscious empowerment, arguing that the author becomes more conscious about the own personality after having analysed the past decisions from the perspective of present times. The second part presents two autobiographies by female authors from two different Muslim cultures. These authors negotiate between the larger nationalist agenda and their own personal concerns. These autobiographies (Pakistani author Tehmina Durrani, My Feudal Lord; Azerbaijani writer Banine, Caucasian Days and Parisian Days) are the end of their authors’ long silence, their revolt against the conventional norms, their decision to have an agency to confess and protest. These autobiographies are the authors’ attempts to break the established matrix of perceptions, imposed norms, and gain power to build the real picture of their identity. The study sums up with the conclusion that in spite of very similar motifs of female authors to get empowered through self-analysis, different cultures and time create specific subjectivities associated with particular historical events and geographical location.


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