This study highlights the poor conditions of urban parks in South Tucson, a predominantly Hispanic area, and provides actionable solutions for enhancing equity in urban park access and quality. This was done by comparing the parks in the study area to the parks in East Tucson, an area predominantly Caucasian. The samples were selected using stratified random sampling. The case study method was used to make a comparison between three parks in south Tucson, namely Santa Rosa, Mirasol, and Ormsby Parks, and those in East Tucson, namely Roy P. Drachmann Agua, Morris K. Udall, and Michael Perry Parks. Findings show that parks in east Tucson had more amenities, were better maintained, were larger, and had a higher proportion of green spaces and more facilities than those in south Tucson. The author recommends that park authorities ensure that the parks in South Tucson are well-maintained and have enough amenities and green spaces to meet the needs of the residents. Also, the residents should collaborate to identify park development priorities to ensure they have a voice in creating sustainable parks in their communities. Lastly, the principles of environmental justice should be included as a criterion for the distribution and maintenance of public parks for underserved populations.

This paper makes the argument that neoliberalism represents the evolution of imperialism in the 21st century and can be considered a distinct form of imperialism itself. It comprehensively analyzes imperialisms economic, political, military, and cultural or ideological dimensions. It highlights the transition from traditional colonial powers to contemporary global players, focusing on the United States as an imperial power and the quintessential neoliberal state. This transformation involves shifting from overt colonization towards subtler strategies centered on securitization, economic dominance, and capital accumulation. The paper also explores how modern neoliberal imperialism relies on the global market as a powerful tool to advance dominant nations interests while maintaining the facade of independence for peripheral countries. It also examines the relationship between the ruling classes and their complex relations with global capitalism and their significant role as instruments for promoting the agendas of leading nations.

Schools are experiencing alarming attrition rates nationwide. The problem is 5% of teachers in suburban southeast South Carolina were leaving within their first 3 years. Increasing attrition rates were important because 5 years ago the attrition rates were half. The purpose of this explanatory case study was to learn how a shared decision-making approach and additional principal support during the induction process can improve teacher retention rates. This case study may help fill a literature gap by exploring how to give early career educators a voice. The studys theoretical foundation was based on Hawthornes participative leadership and Vygotskys sociocultural theories. Research questions were designed to provide data about shared decision-making and additional principal support during the induction process. An explanatory case study design was selected because case studies provide an in-depth understanding of a real-world topic. The case study was bound by secondary teachers in their induction year. Questionnaires and interviews were the data collection methods. Secondary teachers enrolled in the district induction program were selected by convenience sampling and a sample size of 15 teachers participated. A thematic analysis of the data was conducted using Atlas.ti. The data concluded two key factors that must be addressed when considering attrition rates. Supportive, approachable, and consistent administrators can better support the induction process. Providing teachers with a shared decision-making voice is effectively implemented when teachers work and plan together. A sense of belongingness and career longevity happens when these factors are present. The study results confirmed that external factors such as pay, bureaucratic oversight, and parental involvement were issues that were challenges in year one. Nevertheless, the support and acknowledgment that was displayed by the administration was the key piece that kept educators feeling connected and motivated to continue their careers beyond the first year. Early career educators seeking a sense of belonging in their school during their induction year is the most important conclusion that can be taken away from this study. To achieve that sense of belonging, principals should implement a shared decision-making approach that is in the best interest of early career educators. The demographics of an early career educator do not look like they looked even five years ago. School systems and school leaders must recognize the needs of their staff and work to provide the support that they are seeking.

The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically disrupted the quotidian affairs of the global citizenry. Economic, social, and healthcare issues were either created or realized in the midst of the pandemic, and most are still in rebound. Education, in the United States and abroad, was rapidly changed to adhere to the volatility of the pandemic, and the effects of distance and hybrid learning is still realized four years later. This paper, entitled Navigating the Threshold: Development, Disparity, Demography explores the profound effects of the pandemic on the cognitive and social development of school-aged children, with a particular focus on how the sudden shift to home-based learning environments disrupted their educational and developmental trajectories. This paper investigates the challenges faced by students, particularly those in elementary and preschool education, whose learning extends beyond academic content to crucial social and human developmental skills. The central argument posits that the lack of in-person socialization and cooperative learning opportunities significantly contributed to cognitive deficits observed post-pandemic. These deficits are evidenced by declining test scores and increasing rates of absenteeism and academic failure. This paper supports its claims through an extensive review of secondary literature on cognitive development, supplemented by contemporary primary source material, including a case study from the Annenberg Center at Brown University. Furthermore, the study examines the theoretical frameworks surrounding cognitive and social development, contrasting continuous and discontinuous models of development. The continuous model, emphasizing gradual and cumulative growth influenced by environmental factors and social interactions, is particularly relevant in understanding the pandemics impact. The paper also touches upon the intersection of moral and cognitive development and highlights how pandemic-induced educational deficits are exacerbated in lower-income communities that depend heavily on schools for various forms of support beyond education. Overall, this paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the pandemics detrimental effects on educational and developmental outcomes, offering insights into the importance of socialization and in-person learning for student motivation and success. The findings underscore the need for addressing these developmental gaps, particularly in marginalized communities, to mitigate long-term negative consequences, and abate the effects of academic regression and low educational outlook.

Objectives: This study investigated the associations among trait mindfulness, working memory capacity (WMC), and response inhibition. Mindfulness and WMC are thought to involve goal maintenance while resolving competing responses (inhibition), and studies have indeed found associations among mindfulness, WMC, and response inhibition. However, previous studies focused primarily on behavioral inhibition and many failed to differentiate components of mindfulness (awareness and acceptance). This study examined how self-reported mindfulness (awareness and acceptance) related to performance on tasks of WMC and multiple types of response inhibition (i.e., behavioral inhibition, interference control, and cognitive inhibition). Methods: Sixty-seven undergraduate students (75% female) received extra credit for participation. Measures included the Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale (measuring awareness and acceptance), Hayling Task (cognitive inhibition), go/nogo task (behavioral inhibition), Attention Network Test (interference control), n-back task (WMC), and Automated Reading Span Task (WMC). Results: Higher self-reported awareness was related to stronger performance on two measures of WMC (r =.29; r =.32) and multiple measures of response inhibition, including behavioral inhibition (r = -.25), interference control (r = -.25), and cognitive inhibition (r = -.28); response inhibition and WMC accounted for 22% and 16% of the variance in awareness respectively. No relations were found between self-reported acceptance and cognitive performance. Conclusions: Overall, this study found that the Mindfulness component of higher awareness (but not the component of acceptance) was related to stronger WMC and response inhibition. Because Mindfulness, WMC, and response inhibition are related in unique ways to healthy functioning and wellbeing; learning about how they interact increases scientific understanding, and suggests a direction for potential interventions to target these areas.

The problem this visual essay addresses is that safeguards are not designed in AI systems. One such safeguard is caring, a vital human characteristic that enables us to interact with others and the world around us in the right ways. The essay addresses the problem through a fictional comics story that targets general readers and AI designers. In the story, the main character is an AI system that wants to care. This AI system has found evidence of a caring foundation already in its design. However, more design work is needed for further caring to emerge. This visual essay hopes to show that comics can be a valuable tool for enabling AI designers to build safeguards such as caring in AI systems.

The study presents the results of the authors original research. The subject of the research were authentic utterances of 5-6-year-old children at the exit from compulsory pre-primary education. They represented individual conceptions of the following concepts: interview, question, poem, fairytale, book, magazine, library, letter, reading, writing, writer. The concepts were selected from the state curriculum (2016). The aim of the study was to present selected findings from research on childrens conceptions of language and literary concepts. In the study, we provided answers to the research question. Which claims from psycholinguistic theories about narrower and broader conceptions of concepts are most valid in childrens authentic utterances? The research strategy was quantitative. Childrens authentic utterances were obtained through individual interviews. Each child answered four basic questions: what is it. What is it for. What would it be if it wasnt. How do you know that. The childrens statements were content-analyzed and interpreted. The children in the research sample were dominated by narrower conceptions of linguistic and literary concepts (61). The narrower conceptions of the concepts contained a pre-scientific concept of knowing their meaning. The content of their utterances predominantly distorted the objective meanings of the concepts. Children were less likely to interpret social interactions and least likely to use explanations of another, familiar concept. When they did explain concepts in broader terms (34), they mainly relied on sensory experiences. Some children did not know or did not answer the questions (5). The conducted research is a part of the VEGA 1/0505/24 project - Childrens preconceptions about the phenomena of reading literacy.

Aging is a global phenomenon characterized by a high prevalence of dementia. Artistic creation, when applied to dementia patients, can be integrated into daily life to maintain autonomy and creativity. The innovative virtual reality technology offers patients a creative space for expressing emotions and thoughts, presenting new possibilities for artistic creation. This study aims to investigate the impact of virtual reality artistic creation on the creativity of individuals with varying degrees of dementia. The study included a total of 25 participants who were either in Suboptimal Health Status (SHS) or diagnosed with dementia, with an average age of 79.5 years. The participants virtual reality artistic creations were collected, and three experts analyzed the artistic elements and creativity using the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale (FEATS). The results indicate that virtual reality artistic creation tools can stimulate creativity in individuals with varying degrees of dementia and SHS. However, those with more severe cognitive impairments predominantly engaged in imitative creations, exhibiting lower creative abilities. This suggests a negative correlation between dementia severity and the potential for creative expression. In contrast, the group with SHS and MCI demonstrated higher levels of creativity, implying the potential early introduction of art to enhance their creativity training.

A substantial body of research has investigated the relationship between textual enhancement and L2 grammar acquisition, yet the findings remain inconclusive. This review seeks to assess whether textual enhancement can effectively facilitate grammar learning among L2 learners. Additionally, it explores potential moderating factors, such as topic familiarity, the characteristics of the target linguistic structures, and the specific type of textual enhancement used in the acquisition process. The review ultimately highlights the difficulties in confirming a consistent positive effect of textual enhancement on grammar learning and underscores the need for more thorough empirical research, as well as an in-depth examination of current findings, to improve the incorporation of grammar instruction into meaning-centered teaching approaches.

Paniki Dua Village is one of the sub-districts in Mapanget District, Manado City which provides administrative services to its residents, both residents who already live in this sub-district, who will move to another sub-district or move to another city or province or who will move to another sub-district or to this village. The aim of this research is to design an online application for administrative documents to improve the quality of administrative services to the people of Paniki Dua Village, Mapanget District, Manado City. The research method used is a qualitative method which uses interviews and document analysis as instruments to obtain information from sub-districts about the community service process and documents provided by sub-districts and which are needed by community members. The results achieved are the availability of an online application design for administrative documents to improve the quality of service to the people of Paniki Dua Village, Mapanget District, Manado City

The school reality presents us with two negative things, for the vast majority of students, in each class: on the one hand, Mathematics is a dry school subject, difficult to penetrate and, on the other hand, they learn Mathematics, thanks to one or more external motivations. In other words, Mathematics is a hard subject that is learned by force, not for pleasure. On the other hand, it is known that in order to learn Mathematics successfully, you must have a certain level of development of logical-mathematical thinking, but also a level of creative ability. Of course, these two levels increase as you learn Mathematics. In other words, the formation and development of logical-mathematical thinking and the ability to create is the cause and effect of learning Mathematics. Therefore, the Mathematics teacher must always have in mind, for each student, the raising of these two levels. In this paper we will present a concrete way to achieve this fact, "playing" with three equilateral triangles, in the idea of training and developing the competences to solve such problems. Thus, we will consider three equilateral triangles of different sides, each of which has one side located on a straight line d and the other sides located on the same side of this straight line. Moreover, the sides of these triangles which lie on the same straight line are in extension. We will determine, in this paper, a series of metric relations between the sides of these triangles, so that the angle formed by the three vertices not located on the right d is of an arbitrary measure. At the end of the paper, I proposed to the reader attentive and interested in these issues, the solution of four complementary problems to those solved in the paper.

… Irony is a double-layered or two-story phenomenon. At the lower level is the situation either as it appears to the victim of irony (where there is a victim) or as it is deceptively presented by the ironist (where there is an ironist). At the upper level is the situation as it appears to the observer … In the second place there is always some kind of opposition between the two [layers], an opposition that may take the form of contradiction, incongruity, or incompatibility … (Muecke 1970) Through the application of ironical poetic theory; the identification and examination of the poet’s purpose and tactics; the identification and analysis of the two incongruent layers, this study forewarns Juan de Mena’s observer not to be deceived by appearance and be aware of the reality that the poet is intentionally hiding behind a giant smokescreen called irony in his masterly work, Laberinto de Fortuna, with the sole purpose of securing and strengthening his own professional relationship with King John II.

This paper delves into the relationship between neoliberalism and capitalism, examining how neoliberal capitalism, as the current iteration of the system, uniquely impacts Western society. It critically analyzes the concept of Faustian restlessness, an essential characteristic of Western civilization marked by a relentless pursuit of ambition and economic growth, often at the cost of moral and spiritual values. The study also explores the psychological effects of living under neoliberal capitalism in the United States, noting significant impacts on mental health, including increased anxiety and a profound sense of alienation and emptiness. This investigation extends to how individuals reshape their identities and relationships in response to capitalist demands. Furthermore, the research engages with the broader societal influence of capitalism and the interplay between the conscious and subconscious mind, drawing on insights from thinkers like Slavoj Žižek, Sigmund Freud, and Jacques Lacan. This comprehensive examination highlights the need to reassess the broader implications of neoliberal capitalism, emphasizing its profound psychological and societal effects.

In his transcendental analysis of the concept of time, Immanuel Kant holds the problematic view that time is not an empirical concept. In other words, time is not engendered by “experience,” but rather conditions the latter. Assuming this statement to be true, would time then be the most universal intuition imposing its magnitude on the mind? That is the critical question examined in this contribution. I start by looking at the historical context of Kant’s theory of time. I then proceed by examining the status of experience in the genesis of time. In a third moment I turn to the role of the mind in the emergence of time. This point leads me to the so-called Copernican Revolution in Kant’s epistemology. Finally, I endeavor to show that Kant’s exploration of time is an image of his general theory of knowledge, which appears as a constant oscillation between intuitions and concepts. A transcendental analysis of time leads the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) to the following problematic assertion: “time is not an empirical concept.” This negative definition of time in the “Transcendental Aesthetic” can be interpreted in at least two different ways, raising different types of problems. First, to attempt a definition of time is to situate the latter within the horizon on the thinking subject. In this context, time would be the construct of her/his mind. It is the “inner state” of the mind which produces time, making it the “a priori formal condition of all appearances in general.” Obviously, there is a kind of purity here surrounding time such that one cannot but wonder about Kant’s motivations for seemingly preserving time from the stain of experience. Why is Kant suspicious of experience in his definition of time? If he keeps it aloof, there is certainly a history that informs his distrust of the empirical realm as the source of knowledge. He accepts the general Humean point that knowledge cannot be a-posteriori and, therefore, cannot emerge from experience. In a word, the progenitor of time would then be the subject. If such were the case, Kant would line up with the subjectivist and the idealist traditions retrospectively rooted in René Descartes and Plato. Secondly, the “not” in Kant’s definition (“time is not an empirical concept”) appears as a call for the avoidance of a “reality” (matter) that cannot be erased when dealing with time. In other words, if Kant mentions experience, this may be due to the stubbornness of the latter to resist erasure when dealing with time. But is the fact of being called or identified as “experience” not an indirect way of acknowledging its tremendous input in the advent and the survival of time? Put bluntly, can time be totally disconnected and removed from phenomenological and objective conditions? Assuming the response to be positive, the following quote would not support such strong and radical abstraction, since Kant nuances his position in declaring that time is “a pure form of sensible intuition.” And since intuition indicates the receptive character of the mind, that is the way the said mind is affected by spatial objects, it would suggest that experience is the immediate progenitor of time. Kant, of course, contends that time is not engendered by experience but is rather its condition. The affection of the mind certainly expresses its passivity as the active external objects somehow “act” on it. Would time then rather be the most universal intuition imposing its magnitude on the mind? This is the ambiguity that I explore in this chapter. I will begin by looking at the historical context of Kant’s theory of time. Afterwards I will proceed by examining the status of experience in the genesis of time. In a third moment I will turn to the role of the mind in the emergence of time. This point will lead me to the so-called Copernican Revolution in Kant’s epistemology. Finally, I will attempt to show that Kant’s analysis of time is an image of his general theory of knowledge, which appears as a constant oscillation between intuitions and concepts.

Background and Purpose: Black African immigrants, which includes Ghanaian immigrants, experience discrimination in various forms in the United States. While research on African immigrant experiences of discrimination is very scanty, studies on Ghanaian immigrants experience of discrimination in employment and healthcare in the United States are at the bare minimum. This study is, therefore, important in contributing to filling the gap in the research by exploring the experiences of discrimination and racism in the workplace and the healthcare system among the Black African Immigrant population using the Ghanaian Americans sample. The study also explored the populations trust in the medical system in the United States and the factors that influence the populations preferences in the choice of medical service providers. Method: The study adopted a qualitative design with a phenomenological approach. The participants were recruited from the Ghanaian American population, a subgroup of Black African immigrants, in New York City using a purposeful, convenient sampling strategy. Seven individuals were interviewed for the study using a semi-structured interview guide developed by the researcher. The data analysis involved a combination of semantic and latent coding and theming. The analysis was predominantly inductive, with the coding and themes guided by the meaning derived from the responses rather than a pre-conceived theory or framework. Findings: The findings show that accent is the leading immigrant identifier for Black African immigrants. The findings also indicate that while Ghanaian Americans experience discrimination in the workplace and employment, they experience no discrimination in the medical system and have high confidence in the medical system in the United States. This suggests that discrimination experiences can be an issue specific to Ghanaian Americans, and the population can experience discrimination in one aspect of their life while having a completely different experience in other aspects of their life. The findings further show that the doctors competence is paramount for Ghanaian Americans when choosing doctors. However, they would prefer a competent doctor of the same culture as them to enhance communication and understanding between them and the healthcare provider about their health issues.

The poetic reverie of spirituality and knowledge responds to the problem of: to what extent does Paul Claudels poetry express a deep search for meaning through spirituality and co-birth? How do these concepts interact in his works? we invoke the theorie of hermeneutic as developed by Paul Ricoeur, Hans-Georg Gadamer. Our plan aims to study the following orientations: the poetic reverie of spirituality , affinities of spirituality and the discovery of co-birth. We anticipate discovering as expected results how Claudel transcends the boundaries between spirituality and co-birth, offering a holistic vision of the human experience through his poetry. we also hope to highlight the influence of different spiritual and philosophical sources on his work, as well as his commitment to a constant quest for truth and transcendence in the poetic Paul Claudel