scholarly journals Capstone interdisciplinary team project: a requirement for the MS in sustainability degree

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Latif M. Jiji ◽  
Irvin Sam Schonfeld ◽  
George A. Smith

Purpose – This paper aims to describe experience gained with a required six-credit year-long course, the Capstone Interdisciplinary Team Project, a key component of the Master of Science (MS) in Sustainability degree at the City College of New York. A common feature of sustainability problems is their interdisciplinary nature. Solutions to sustainability problems often require professionals with different training and backgrounds to work as a team. A sustainability curriculum should provide students with the skills needed to competently participate in an interdisciplinary team. Design/methodology/approach – Instructors drawn from different departments and divisions of the college developed a pool of sustainability-focused Capstone projects and acted as mentors to teams of students with diverse undergraduate backgrounds. Students attended workshops designed to provide training in teamwork, research and report preparation. An independent evaluator designed an evaluation protocol to assess the course’s impact both while it was implemented and after the course was concluded. Findings – Early experience with the program strongly indicates that the Capstone project requirement is an effective learning tool. However, identifying qualified mentors, developing suitable projects, assembling teams and administering the Capstone course are demanding tasks. Although students often experience difficulties in the early stages of their work, they ultimately express satisfaction and appreciation for the skills learned in the course. Practical implications – The inclusion of a capstone team project in a graduate sustainability curriculum is strongly recommended. Adopting such a course requires significant effort and sustained faculty engagement. Originality/value – Although there is considerable experience with undergraduate engineering Capstone course requirements, little is known about interdivisional capstone requirements at the level of master’s degree in Sustainability. This paper details new and relevant experience helpful to the implementation of such a requirement.

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Foley ◽  
Katherine Bertel

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe how librarians at the State University of New York College at Buffalo used iPads during one class session of a semester-long library instruction course to increase student engagement, energize the traditional library tour, build collaboration and give students experience using tablet technology in an educational setting. Design/methodology/approach – Librarians provided iPads to groups of students and sent them to photograph different areas of the library during one class session of a semester-long course. Students then uploaded the photographs to a common Web site for class discussion. Findings – Formal and informal student feedback was positive. Students connected with the instructors and with each other, enjoyed discovering library spaces and services and became more comfortable with tablet technology. The project also increased student enthusiasm for the class. Originality/value – This paper is the first to systematically describe a simple activity that can be used by instruction librarians to incorporate tablets into the curriculum. The method requires minimal time to set up and implement, involves a very short learning curve and is easily adaptable to various mobile devices.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 209-228
Author(s):  
Martin Van Bruinessen ◽  
Michael M. Gunter ◽  
Joost Jongerden ◽  
Michiel Leezenberg ◽  
Stanley Thangaraj

Michael M. Gunter (ed.), Routledge Handbook on the Kurds, London and New York: Routledge, 2019, 483 pp., (ISBN: 9781138646643). Reviewed by Martin van Bruinessen, Utrecht University, The Netherlands Kardo Bokani, Social Communication and Kurdish Political Mobilisation in Turkey, Balti, Republic of Moldova: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2017, 252 pp., (ISBN: 978-3-330-33239-3) Reviewed by Michael M. Gunter, Tennessee Technological University, United States Emel Elif Tugdar & Serhun Al, eds., Comparative Kurdish Politics in the Middle East: Actors, Ideas, and Interests, Cham: Palgrave-MacMillan, 2018, pp. 235, (ISBN: 978-3319537146) Reviewed by Joost Jongerden, Wageningen University, The Netherlands Christoph Markiewicz, The Crisis of Kingship in Late Medieval Islam: Persian Emigres and the Making of Ottoman Sovereignty, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019, 364 pp, (9781108684842). Reviewed by Michiel Leezenberg, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Thomas Schmidinger, The Battle for the Mountain of the Kurds: Self-Determination and Ethnic Cleansing in the Afrin Region of Rojava, Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2019, 192 pp. (ISBN: 978-1629636511). Reviewed by Stanley Thangaraj, City College of New York, United States


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Satlin ◽  
Liang Chen ◽  
Gopi Patel ◽  
Angela Gomez-Simmonds ◽  
Gregory Weston ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Although the New York/New Jersey (NY/NJ) area is an epicenter for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), there are few multicenter studies of CRE from this region. We characterized patients with CRE bacteremia in 2013 at eight NY/NJ medical centers and determined the prevalence of carbapenem resistance among Enterobacteriaceae bloodstream isolates and CRE resistance mechanisms, genetic backgrounds, capsular types (cps), and antimicrobial susceptibilities. Of 121 patients with CRE bacteremia, 50% had cancer or had undergone transplantation. The prevalences of carbapenem resistance among Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter spp., and Escherichia coli bacteremias were 9.7%, 2.2%, and 0.1%, respectively. Ninety percent of CRE were K. pneumoniae and 92% produced K. pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC-3, 48%; KPC-2, 44%). Two CRE produced NDM-1 and OXA-48 carbapenemases. Sequence type 258 (ST258) predominated among KPC-producing K. pneumoniae (KPC-Kp). The wzi154 allele, corresponding to cps-2, was present in 93% of KPC-3-Kp, whereas KPC-2-Kp had greater cps diversity. Ninety-nine percent of CRE were ceftazidime-avibactam (CAZ-AVI)-susceptible, although 42% of KPC-3-Kp had an CAZ-AVI MIC of ≥4/4 μg/ml. There was a median of 47 h from bacteremia onset until active antimicrobial therapy, 38% of patients had septic shock, and 49% died within 30 days. KPC-3-Kp bacteremia (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.58; P = 0.045), cancer (aOR, 3.61, P = 0.01), and bacteremia onset in the intensive care unit (aOR, 3.79; P = 0.03) were independently associated with mortality. Active empirical therapy and combination therapy were not associated with survival. Despite a decade of experience with CRE, patients with CRE bacteremia have protracted delays in appropriate therapies and high mortality rates, highlighting the need for rapid diagnostics and evaluation of new therapeutics.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (6/7) ◽  
pp. 418-432
Author(s):  
Xiaoai Ren

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to look at the organizational structure and service provisions of cooperative public library systems in New York State. The study also seeks to ask questions of how cooperative public library systems decide what services to provide. Design/methodology/approach – Descriptive statistics, factor analysis and cluster analysis were applied on New York State public library systems’ 2008 annual reports to generate quantitative profiles of public library systems and their service transactions. Three cooperative public library systems displaying different service features were purposefully selected for further study of their service decision-making processes. The face-to-face and phone interviews were adopted in the study. Findings – Research findings from this study provide information on specific service variations across cooperative public library systems. The findings also provide differences of service decision-making processes in addition to the factors that might cause these differences. Originality/value – This study adds knowledge of public library systems’ management and organizational structures, therefore fills a knowledge gap on public library systems. It can also serve as the baseline for future studies using newer annual report data and therefore to study the changing roles and services of cooperative public library systems in New York State.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 338-353
Author(s):  
Raphaël Pieroni ◽  
Patrick James Naef

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse urban transformation as a tourism resource. Tourism is undeniably a powerful motor for urban transformation but in return, urban transformation can represent a resource for actors related to tourism. More precisely this paper focuses on one major transformation of modern cities: gentrification. Design/methodology/approach The central hypothesis of this paper is that gentrification accompanies tourism, but that gentrification itself may also become an object of the tourist gaze. The paper focuses on local guides and small touristic entrepreneurs in order to identify the tensions that might arise. The presentation of two guided tours – “Subculture Brixton Nightlife Tour” and “Where Brooklyn At?” – will enable us to explore how the gentrification of Brixton (London) and Brooklyn (New York) may be used as a tourism resource for local private entrepreneurs. Findings Results presented here are based on ethnographic methods such as observation as well as content analysis and semi-directive interviews. Mobilising the historical concept of “slumming”, this paper proposes an extended conceptual framework, “neo-slumming”, to analyse evolving tourism practices in modern cities, practices that are considered here as tourism’s new frontiers. Originality/value However, as tourism transforms cities, the process itself is now of interest to tourists and thus becomes a resource for sector businesses (Naef, 2018). Yet studies about the touristification of urban transformation are still quite rare. This analysis aims to fill this gap by looking at the way a process, such as some spectacular, rapid or radical transformation of the urban fabric, can become a touristic resource associated with specific narratives and representations. In this context, the tourist gaze (Urry, 2002) is directed on a resource characterised by its ongoing change.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-475
Author(s):  
Selma Izadi ◽  
Abdullah Noman

Purpose The existence of the weekend effect has been reported from the 1950s to 1970s in the US stock markets. Recently, Robins and Smith (2016, Critical Finance Review, 5: 417-424) have argued that the weekend effect has disappeared after 1975. Using data on the market portfolio, they document existence of structural break before 1975 and absence of any weekend effects after that date. The purpose of this study is to contribute some new empirical evidences on the weekend effect for the industry-style portfolios in the US stock market using data over 90 years. Design/methodology/approach The authors re-examine persistence or reversal of the weekend effect in the industry portfolios consisting of The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), The American Stock Exchange (AMEX) and The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations exchange (NASDAQ) stocks using daily returns from 1926 to 2017. Our results confirm varying dates for structural breaks across industrial portfolios. Findings As for the existence of weekend effects, the authors get mixed results for different portfolios. However, the overall findings provide broad support for the absence of weekend effects in most of the industrial portfolios as reported in Robins and Smith (2016). In addition, structural breaks for other weekdays and days of the week effects for other days have also been documented in the paper. Originality/value As far as the authors are aware, this paper is the first research that analyzes weekend effect for the industry-style portfolios in the US stock market using data over 90 years.


Author(s):  
Khee Giap Tan ◽  
Nguyen Trieu Duong Luu ◽  
Le Phuong Anh Nguyen

Purpose Cost of living is an important consideration for the decision-making of expatriates and investment decisions of businesses. As competition between cities for talent and capital becomes global instead of national, the need for timely and internationally comparable information on global cities’ cost of living increases. While commercial research houses frequently publish cost of living surveys, these reports can be lacking in terms of scientific rigour. In this context, this paper aims to contribute to the literature by formulating a comprehensive and rigorous methodology to compare the cost of living for expatriates in 103 world’s major cities. Design/methodology/approach A cost of living index for expatriates composed of the ten consumption categories is constructed. The results from the study covers a study period from 2005 to 2014 in 103 cities. More than 280 individual prices of 165 goods and services have been compiled for each city in the calculation of the cost of living index for expatriates. New York has been chosen as the base city for the study, with other cities being benchmarked against it. A larger cost of living index for expatriates implies that the city is more expensive for expatriates to live in and vice versa. Findings While the authors generate the cost of living rankings for expatriates for 103 cities worldwide, in this paper, the authors focus on five key cities, namely, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Zurich, as they are global financial centres. In 2013, the latest year for which data are available, Zurich was the most expensive for expatriates among the five cities, followed by Singapore, Tokyo, London and Hong Kong. These results pertain to the cost of living for expatriates, and cities compare very differently in terms of cost of living for ordinary residents, as ordinary residents follow different consumption patterns from expatriates. Originality/value Cost of living in the destination city is a major consideration for professionals who look to relocate, and organisations factor such calculations in their decisions to post employees overseas and design commensurate compensation packages. This paper develops a comprehensive and rigorous methodology for measuring and comparing cost of living for expatriates around the world. The value-addition lies in the fact that the authors are able to differentiate between expatriates and ordinary residents, which has not been done in the existing literature. They use higher quality data and generate an index that is not sensitive to the choice of base city.


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 1773-1779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly Consroe ◽  
Marin Kurti ◽  
David Merriman ◽  
Klaus von Lampe

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 583-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Zide ◽  
Ben Elman ◽  
Comila Shahani-Denning

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the elements of a LinkedIn profile that hiring professionals focus on most, and then examine LinkedIn profiles in terms of these identified elements across different industries. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology was comprised of two phases. In the first phase, researchers interviewed hiring professionals to determine their usage of LinkedIn. In the second phase, LinkedIn group member profiles from three industries – HR, sales/marketing and industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology – were compared on the 21 variables identified in Phase 1 (n=288). Findings – χ2 and ANOVA tests showed significant differences with respect to ten of the LinkedIn variables in how people presented themselves across the three groups. There were also several gender differences found. Research limitations/implications – A general limitation was the use of a qualitative research approach. A limitation of Phase 1 was that only a small sample of New York City-based hiring professionals was interviewed. Perhaps a wider, more diverse sample would have yielded different variables. In terms of Phase 2, it is possible that just utilizing the second connections of the researchers limited the generalizability of findings. Practical implications – User unwillingness to fully complete the LinkedIn profile suggests that it may not have replaced the traditional resume yet. Sales/marketing professionals were more likely than HR and I/O psychology professionals to complete multiple aspects of a LinkedIn profile. Women were also less likely than men to provide personal information on their profiles. Originality/value – Most of the empirical research on social networking sites has focussed on Facebook, a non-professional site. This is, from the knowledge, the first study that systematically examined the manner in which people present themselves on LinkedIn – the most popular professional site used by applicants and recruiters worldwide.


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