Redeemer University College

Effective strategies for navigating diversity in educational and direct practice settings are essential. Given rapid diversification in North America, scholars have called for qualitative research on diversity practices. In response, this study answers the question: What, if any, contemporary diversity-centered practices limit or impede the development of diversity literacy, the attitudes, knowledge, and skills necessary to interact with populations respectfully and sensitively? Narrative-informed inquiry was used to explore perceptions among 32 social work students and alumni from one university in Ontario, Canada. Analysis produced six themes, which suggest that diversity literacy may be constrained by: (1) categorizing people into boxes, (2) discussing social identities too simplistically, (3) conflating diversity discussions and social justice efforts, (4) priming differences in a manner that makes them inordinately salient, (5) endorsing, rather than challenging, assumptions and stereotypes about social identity groups, and (6) limiting difficult conversations about differences. The findings position social work students and professionals with the knowledge to foster more culturally attuned interactions with populations that differ from their own in educational and direct practice settings. Future research might employ intersectional samples of social workers across North America, using both qualitative and quantitative designs, to study the effectiveness of diversity-centered practices.

A modified shifted-echo PIETA pulse sequence is developed to acquire natural abundance 29Si 2D J-resolved spectra in crystalline silicates. The sequence is applied to the highly siliceous zeolites Sigma-2 and ZSM-12. The 2D J-resolved spectra are used to develop a silicate framework structure refinement strategy based on Si-O, O-O, and Si-Si distance restraints and analytical relationships between local structure and 29Si chemical shifts and geminal 2JSi-O-Si couplings. The refinement of the Sigma-2 structure showed that the Si-O and O-O distances were in excellent agreement with the single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) data. The refinement of the ZSM-12 structure, initially determined from synchrotron powder XRD data, highlighted significant improvements in Si-O and O-O distances, and better agreement between calculated and experimental chemical shifts and J-couplings.

A sign pattern $\mathcal{A}$ is a matrix with entries in $\{+,-,0\}$. This article introduces the allow sequence of distinct eigenvalues for an $n\times n$ sign pattern $\mathcal{A}$, defined as $q_{\rm seq}(\mathcal{A})=\langle q_1,\ldots,q_n\rangle$, with $q_k=1$ if there exists a real matrix with exactly $k$ distinct eigenvalues having pattern $\mathcal{A}$, and $q_k=0$ otherwise. For example, $q_{\rm seq}(\mathcal{A})=\langle 0,\ldots,0,1\rangle$ is equivalent to $\mathcal{A}$ requiring all distinct eigenvalues, while $q_{\rm seq}(\mathcal{A})=\langle 1,0,\ldots,0\rangle$ is equivalent to the digraph of $\mathcal{A}$ being acyclic. Relationships between the allow sequence for $\mathcal{A}$ and composite cycles of the digraph of $\mathcal{A}$ are explored to identify zeros in the sequence, while methods based on Jacobian matrices are developed to identify ones in the sequence. When $\mathcal{A}$ is an $n\times n$ irreducible sign pattern, the possible sequences for $q_{\rm seq}(\mathcal{A})$ are completely determined when $n\leq 4$ and when the sequence has at least $n-4$ trailing zeros for $n\geq 5$.

In this article, we discuss C. S. Lewis’s description, and critique, of metaphysical naturalism, and apply this to our reading of the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. We argue that Nolan’s Joker is the most ethically consistent type of naturalist, and that this makes his ethical position at once more praiseworthy than that of numerous naturalistic moral thinkers, such as Sam Harris, insofar as it is consistent, and yet blameworthy in that other naturalistic ethicists, inconsistent though they may be, at least, reasonably, assume a kind of objective morality via implicit supernaturalist assumptions about “right” and “wrong”.

Solid-state 13 C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a powerful tool for identifying the various polymorphs of cellulose, for example quantifying the proportions of cellulose Iα and Iβ polymorphs in the crystalline domains of various native celluloses. While marine invertebrate animals known as tunicates produce nearly pure cellulose Iβ, solid-state NMR reveals that bacterial cellulose is dominated by the Iα polymorph, but also has additional signals arising from a secondary crystalline form that are normally attributed to cellulose Iβ. However, in this paper we show that the 13 C chemical shifts and correlation patterns in 2D NMR spectra for this secondary crystalline form in bacterial cellulose are not the same as those found in cellulose Iβ spectra reported for tunicate cellulose. In order to reach this conclusion, it was necessary to ensure all spectra were correctly set to the same chemical shift scale. In doing so, it became apparent there were spectral features for bacterial cellulose that were entirely consistent with previously reported spectra of bacterial cellulose but did not match those of the Iβ polymorph found in tunicate cellulose. Through a careful and detailed analysis of the 1D and 2D NMR spectra of three 13 C-enriched bacterial cellulose samples, two sets of correlated 13 C chemical shifts for this secondary crystalline form were identi ed. The fact that these chemical shifts and correlation patterns are different than those of tunicate cellulose suggests that there exists some sort of structural deviation from the Iβ polymorph in bacterial cellulose since the 13 C NMR spectrum closely resembles, but is not identical to, the 13 C spectrum of the Iβ polymorph found in tunicate cellulose. Material preparation was carried out by Janelle Mikolajewski. Data collection, analysis, and writing of the manuscript were carried out by Darren Brouwer. Both authors have read and approved the nal

Much theorizing about secularization tells a “differentiation story” that puts a historical process of structural differentiation at the center of its understanding of secularization. The heart of the story is the claim that the increasing differentiation of social spheres over time freed the “secular” spheres of life (politics, economics, etc.) from religious control or domination. This conceptual framing has been widely shared by scholars in the field, not only by adherents of the classical secularization paradigm, but also their leading critics in the supply-side and historicist–revisionist schools. While the story sometimes serves a purely descriptive function, at other times it is used to explain secularization (i.e., differentiation causes secularization). A close examination of the differentiation story, however, raises questions about the historical accuracy and theoretical plausibility of some of its core assumptions. Aspects of the differentiation story that require critical reconsideration include the empirical accuracy of its historical generalizations, its underspecified notion of “spheres,” and its explanatory assumption that some spheres are innately or properly nonreligious.

We review an explicit approach to obtaining numerical solutions of the Schr\"odinger equation that is conceptionally straightforward and capable of significant accuracy and efficiency. The method and its efficacy are illustrated with several examples. Because of its explicit nature, the algorithm can be readily extended to systems with a higher number of spatial dimensions. We show that the method also generalizes the staggered-time approach of Visscher and allows for the accurate calculation of the real and imaginary parts of the wave function separately.

Mosquitoes (Culicidae) are ubiquitous flying insects that function as vectors for several viruses that cause disease in humans. Mosquito abundance and diversity are influenced by landscape features and environmental factors such as temperature and precipitation and vary across seasons and years. The range and phenology of many mosquito species that vector viruses relevant to human health are changing. We sampled mosquito communities in central Oklahoma for four years at thirteen sites, collecting over 25,000 mosquitoes; among these, we identified 27 different species, including several that transmit human pathogens and were collected in suburban backyards. Community composition differed across the landscape and changed from early season to late season and year to year. This effort to describe mosquito communities in Oklahoma is a first step toward assessing and predicting arbovirus risk, an ongoing and dynamic public health challenge.