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The purpose of this paper is to present a virtual process simulation technique for modeling process alternatives.

The paper proposes modeling method and applies it to an illustrative example.

The method is effective in modeling the illustrative example and provides a method for studying team composition and dynamics a priori.

The paper presents an approach to model process alternatives in order to select the best deployment option. The modeling process incorporates measures and metrics relating to global geographic and team issues. Incorporation of these issues affords the process designer the ability to predict more accurately the most successful deployment option.

The research contributes to the study of process modeling by examining the potentially neglected or ignored issues relating to geographic and team diversity.

The purpose of this paper is to propose virtual process simulation as a technique for identifying and analyzing uncertainty in processes. Uncertainty is composed of both risks and opportunities.

Virtual process simulation involves the creation of graphical models representing the process of interest and associated tasks. Graphical models representing the resources (e.g. people, facilities, tools, etc.) are also created. The members of the resources graphical models are assigned to process tasks in all possible combinations. Secondary calculi, representing uncertainty, are imposed upon these models to determine scores. From the scores, changes in process structure or resource allocation can be used to manage uncertainty.

The example illustrates the benefits of utilizing virtual process simulation in process pre‐planning. Process pre‐planning can be used as part of strategic or operational uncertainty management.

This paper presents an approach to clarify and assess uncertainty in new processes. This modeling technique enables the quantification of measures and metrics to assist in systematic uncertainty analysis. Virtual process simulation affords process designers the ability to more thoroughly examine uncertainty while planning processes.

This research contributes to the study of uncertainty management by promoting a systematic approach that quantifies metrics and measures according to the objectives of a given process.

Cerebral palsy is one of the leading causes of chronic disability in children. The current pilot study investigated (1) whether an exoskeleton system enables physiological gait patterns and (2) whether the system is user-friendly enough to envision its use in a clinical setting.

Participants included a convenience sample of six children with cerebral palsy. Following informed consent, study volunteers underwent baseline assessments, participated in eight sessions during which they used the exoskeleton system with the objective of achieving proficiency in use of the system, and underwent an end-of-study assessment of walking. Satisfaction and usability questionnaires were given to the family/caregiver.

All participants achieved a more regular gait pattern and improved their 6-Minute Walk Test scores. Overall satisfaction and usability were rated as good.

The exoskeleton system enabled physiological gait patterns, and the system was user-friendly enough to envision its use in a clinical setting.

There is potential for guiding treatment plans for individuals with cerebral palsy.

This study examined perceived brand attractiveness of and identification with fashion luxury brands given different levels of sexuality in advertisements. Sex in advertisements has become increasingly more common to generate attention and interest in fashion luxury products, with limited research on its influence on the consumer. However, the use of sexuality in luxury advertisements may counter the ethical expectations of brands by the current consumer in the United States.

A sample of 1,266 males and females completed a survey on brand attractiveness and identification after examining an advertisement of a luxury fashion product. Participants were assigned an advertisement that featured a same-gendered model at one of four levels of sexuality (fully clothed to nude). IBM SPSS Statistics was used to analyze the data which included descriptive statistics and a two-way multivariate analysis of variance followed by an analysis of variance.

The results indicated that less sexuality in luxury advertisements was better in generating attractiveness to and identification with the brand. The advertisements with models fully clothed were rated highest on brand attractiveness and identification. These relationships were statistically significant among groups of men and women.

These findings are important to scholars and marketers of luxury brands as sexuality in luxury brands continues to increase and becomes more provocative, as well as socially conscious.

“The Need to Disrupt Social Control” discusses three examples: sexual assault, civil rights, and state security, and how all three involve social control forces that promote or permit the oppression of individuals, groups, and societies. Amentahru Wahlrab, Sarah M. Sass, and Robert Edward Sterken Jr. briefly provide examples of how social control can be disrupted including #MeToo (sexual assault), the American Civil Rights Movement (civil rights), and the Arab Spring (authoritarian regimes) to illustrate how social control has been disrupted in these areas. The chapter illustrates how patriarchal norms allow for sexual assault by those with power within contexts, such as Hollywood, academia, business, and politics. Sexual assault survivors and bystanders often do not report instances of assault due to informal social norms permitting such actions and fear of personal and professional harm.

On a different level, the jail in the American south was one of the most feared institutions for African Americans. It was not uncommon for an African American to never return from what would be a night in the “drunk tank” for a white person. Black Americans stayed “in their place” due to the threat of the jail cell. Finally, the chapter details how tyrants use the full weight of state security forces, including the police and the military, to maintain their control. Fear of security forces is routinely encouraged by arrests, torture, and even disappearance (of people) at the hands of the security forces. “The Need to Disrupt Social Control” concludes that in these cases, social control maintains an oppressive order of some kind, thus social control is understood as a potential negative.

The purpose of the paper is two-fold. The first is to inform the readers of the racist origins of libraries in America. Readers will learn about historic instances of systemic racism in libraries and those that persist today. The second purpose is to give readers examples of antiracist actions they can take on an individual level, in concert with library administration, and on the institutional level.

This paper gives an overview of systemic racism in librarianship. Part I outlines the history of libraries and their institutional oppression origins in America. Part II reviews some of the current racial issues in Libraries and Information Science (LIS). Part III gives the author's viewpoint on how to incorporate antiracist action within libraries and how to decenter whiteness at the national level.

The authors found that libraries were established on institutional oppression and systemic racism, which continue to this day to center whiteness and disadvantage BIPOC. Having said that, now is the time to make changes, decenter whiteness and remove systemic barriers through antiracist actions. These actions will help increase the number of BIPOC working in libraries and improve the retention and promotion of those BIPOC too. If the American Library Association (ALA) heeds this call to action, Critical Race Theory (CRT) will become part of the Master's of Library and Information Science (MLIS), BIPOC will be better funded and supported, and the credentialing stigma will be removed.

This article highlights concrete action that should be taken beyond individual bias awareness and into systemic changes. It advocates for more critical awareness and daily antiracist action within the LIS field.

This is the first study to examine AIDS activism among African American women. It also argues for womanism as a framework that can more accurately examine activism among African American women. Based on in-depth interviews with 36 African American women AIDS activists, this chapter explores factors that encourage activism among this sample of women. Intersectionality, and its emphasis on notions of identity and intersecting oppressions and social justice, is used as the theoretical framework to examine AIDS activism among these women. Findings suggest that their identities as activists and African American women, as well as their spirituality and notions of community uplift and survival have informed their activism efforts. These findings are discussed along with the limitations of utilizing intersectionality as the theoretical framework. Womanism is suggested as a theoretical framework that can extend the notions of identity and activism among people of color emphasized by intersectionality, as it addresses identity and social justice, but also highlights the importance of spirituality and community uplift among this sample of women.

Balance Theory has accumulated an impressive record of empirical confirmation at both the micro- and macro-levels. Yet, it is unclear why humans consistently prefer balanced relations when imbalance offers the opportunity to reap material rewards. We argue that balance is preferred because it functions as a “compression heuristic,” allowing networks to be more easily encoded in, and recalled from, memory.

We present the results of a novel randomized laboratory experiment using nearly 300 subjects. We evaluate the independent and joint effects of degree of balance/imbalance and presence/absence of kin compression heuristics on network recall.

We find that memory for relationship valence is more accurate for balanced, rather than imbalanced, networks and that relationship existence and relationship valence are separable cognitive elements. We also use comparisons between kin and non-kin networks to suggest that humans are implicitly aware of the conditions under which imbalanced networks will be most durable.

We show that the tension/strain postulated to generate mental and behavioral responses to increase balance likely stems from cognitive limitations. More broadly, this connects balance theory to models of human cognition and evolution and suggests that human general processing ability may have evolved in response to social, rather than physical, challenges.

In response to concerns about fake news (Allcott et al., 2019) and polarization (Wollebaek et al., 2019), youth media literacy interventions have emerged to teach strategies for assessing credibility of online news (McGrew et al., 2018) and producing media to mobilize others for civic goals (Kahne et al., 2016). However, in light of evidence that practices learned in classroom contexts do not reliably translate to the context of sharing social media (Middaugh, 2018), this study aims to provide a better understanding of youth social media practices needed to design meaningful and relevant educational experiences.

Semistructured interviews with a think-aloud component were conducted with a diverse sample of 18 California youth (15–24) to learn about factors that guide behavior as they access, endorse, share, comment and produce civic media.

Findings suggest a shift toward reliance on incidental exposure and noninstitutional sources when accessing information and a tendency toward endorsement and circulation of posts (vs producing original posts) when engaging with civic issues on social media. As participants engaged in these practices, they not only applied judgments of credibility and civic impact but also concerned for personal relevance, relational considerations and fit with internet culture.

The authors recommend moving beyond models that reflect linear processes of effortful search, credibility analysis and production. Instead, the authors propose a new dynamic model of civic media literacy in which youth apply judgments of credibility, relational considerations, relevance to lived experience, civic impact and fit with internet culture as they receive, endorse, share, comment on and produce media in a nonlinear fashion.