Abstract

In the modern economy, informality is a fundamental characteristic of underdevelopment. ‘Informality’ is a term used to describe the collection of firms and activities that operate outside the legal and regulatory framework. This study aims at understanding the factors that drive entrepreneurship in the informal sector. Building and complementing extant research on the system-level view of institutions, I argue that the configuration of institutional conditions and the relative strengths and weaknesses of state capabilities across multiple institutional domains drives, both subsistence-oriented and growth-oriented informal entrepreneurship. I test the hypothesized relationships using 98- country cases and find support for the hypothesized relationships. I also discuss implications for informal entrepreneurship research and policymakers.   

Abstract

Background: Minorities are underrepresented in the dental hygiene profession. The educational pathway to health care professions is an opportunity to identify a unique set of barriers in the workforce pipeline. With limited capacity, programs are challenged to determine the appropriate criteria with which to rank students for selection of limited positions in the respective programs. The objectivity and evidence correlating GPA to student academic success and licensure pass rates have made GPA the primary criteria for student admission decisions within undergraduate clinical programs. An area lacking research is the influence of social determinant factors on the student selection process and how heavily weighted GPA admission criteria influence diversity, equity, and inclusion within health career programs.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the relationship between social determinants and students’ successful admission to an undergraduate clinical nursing, radiography, or dental hygiene program that uses GPA as a primary admissions factor.

Methods: The research design for this study was a quantitative correlational design. The target population for the study was applicants to undergraduate entry-level clinical programs in the United States in the spring/summer semester of the 2021 academic year. Applicants to accessible programs served as the non-probability population sample for this quantitative correlational study. All variables were measured by a novel questionnaire.

Results: Admitting students based on GPA favored individuals who have better lived social experiences and excluded traditionally marginalized populations that experienced social disadvantages.

Conclusions: Balanced admissions criteria presents an opportunity to address the dynamics resulting in the diversity, equity, and inclusion concerns identified within health professions. Understanding the role social factors play in student success can aid in the establishment of balanced admission criteria that provides access to professional licensure careers for traditionally marginalized populations. Student support opportunities can be provided along the prerequisite coursework pathway to provide access to health careers.

Abstract

“Lifelong learning” is an anachronistic term to apply to the study of nineteenth-century British fiction. Defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “a form of or approach to education which promotes the continuation of learning throughout adult life, esp. by making educational material and instruction available through libraries, colleges, or information technology,” the term first started appearing in the 1930s and has become a staple vocabulary in our society. And yet, it is in the nineteenth century that the cultural ethos of lifelong learning emerged. Amidst the forces of industrialization, population increase, and imperial expansion, Britons felt the urgent need to educate workers, make information available to a wider population of readers, train women for professions, produce new knowledge, and engage in self-improvement to keep up with the times. Many contemporary works of fiction not only engaged these issues but also theorized how lifelong learning takes place—or fails to do so—in the complex interaction between technologies, institutions, and individuals. Analyzing scenes of lifelong learning in works by Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, among others, this presentation will trace the legacies of lifelong learning, both good and bad, that we inherit from the nineteenth century.

Abstract

In 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions attempted to bar victims of non-state actors–such as intimate partners and local gangs–from obtaining asylum in the United States. This presentation focuses on domestic violence-based asylum claims that made it to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals during the Trump Administration and the first five months of the Biden Administration. My feminist legal analysis explores how judges evaluate the credibility of petitioners, determine whether domestic violence can rise to the level of persecution, and decide if a government was unwilling or unable to protect the victim. A systematic analysis of 83 appellate level verdicts shows that asylum decisions are fraught with inconsistencies and that many judges lack a sophisticated understanding of domestic violence, credibility, and trauma.

Abstract to be provided at a later date.

Abstract

This piece+paper presentation will include an overview of Olivier’s work Partial Decisions a real-time, semi-improvised work for solo performer and interactive audiovisual system. Opening remarks will cover the inspiration for the work as well as the various design considerations for the algorithmic instrument. These remarks will be followed by a brief live performance of the work. The algorithmic system employs over 600 individual tones and shapes to model the results of individuals choosing to come together or strike out on their own. The performer exploits the results of those decisions to shape various sonic and visual outcomes, which in turn shape future results. While the performer can merely impose limits on the decision-making capabilities of the modeled community, imposing those limits can yield unexpected results, sometimes beautiful, sometimes chaotic, and sometimes beautifully chaotic. Each performance is unique and opens up a chance for new possibilities, a chance for newfound beauty from the partial decisions of the many. Since 2021 this work has been screened or performed in Australia, Austria, Ireland, and the US at the International Computer Music Conference; the Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X; the College Music Society & the Association for Technology in Music Instruction National Conference; the New York City Electronic Music Festival, the SeenSound Series, and the Earth Day Art Model.