Browsing by Subject "Community"

This was a mixed-methods study aimed to comprehensively assess factors associated with mosquito control in Belmopan, Belize, in order to better inform stakeholders on the effectiveness of their efforts. A knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions (KAP) survey was employed within the four target communities of San Martin, Salvapan, Maya Mopan, and Las Flores. Additional epidemiological and entomological data was provided by relevant stakeholders. A total of 228 households were surveyed among the four target communities. Only 1/3 of respondents were able to demonstrate proficient knowledge. Knowledge was attained mostly through TV, Ministry of Health, hospital, and radio sources. Over 90% of respondents believed that mosquitos and the diseases they carry were a real issue for the community. Respondents living in Salvapan and Las Flores were more likely to have contracted Dengue Fever, Malaria, Chikungunya, or Zika than in other areas. Fan usage and regularly cleaning the yard were the two most employed practices for preventing mosquito bites and breeding. Approximately 85% of those surveyed viewed insecticide spraying to be effective. This assessment provides valuable insight into the needs of at- risk communities in regards to vector control. An increased focus on community outreach, education, and behavioral change can greatly impact the effectiveness of current vector control efforts. Stakeholders must work together and pool resources in order to effectively employ control interventions. Continued evaluation and community involvement is necessary to control mosquitos and prevent disease outbreaks.

This paper examines how individuals’ social interactions are influenced by the media environments they inhabit (Media Ecology) and the consequent impact on the practice of developing community in the local church (Ecclesiology). Too often, leaders in the church are uninformed about the ways media use, not simply content, is affecting the social structures of community. Consequently, technology in the church is uncritically embraced and little attention is given to what adaptations need to be made for the church to remain authentic to its Christ-given identity and mission. More specifically, this paper focuses on the obstacle and opportunity of building community in the local church, designed to be densely-knit, in a time of “Networked Individualism,” characterized by sparsely-knit, technologically-meditated interaction.

This paper argues that leaders in the church should strive to establish and preserve close-knit church community, however countercultural, because such community is the best reflection of the community within God’s self. Also vital to maintaining densely-knit community in the church is that human beings are biologically wired to be in close communion with others and thrive in such environments. After providing a biological and theological defense for dense community in the church, practical suggestions are provided for maintaining close communion in the church in light of technologically-mediated engagement. Specifically, an argument is made for prioritizing and encouraging face-to-face conversation amongst parishioners in the local church. Additionally, the paper takes a look at the ways media is currently used in local congregations and determines the merits of such use based upon their virtue or vice relative to maintaining close, embodied community. Finally, utilizing the Biblical narratives of the Tower of Babel and Pentecost, the paper concludes by viewing technology use and close-knit community from the perspective of soteriology and argues that the remedy for humanity’s insecurity and path to true greatness is found in Spirit-filled, densely-knit community.

Human welfare depends heavily on ecosystem services like water purification and nutrient cycling. Many of these ecosystem services, in turn, rely on reactions performed by microbes and yet remarkably little is known about how anthropogenic impacts are affecting the structure and function of microbial communities. To help address this knowledge gap, this dissertation uses field surveys and laboratory experiments to examine how watershed urbanization affects microbial communities in receiving streams. We focus on a specific functional group and its associated function - the denitrifying bacteria and denitrification. Denitrifying bacteria use reactive nitrogen and organic carbon as substrates to perform denitrification. Denitrification is one of the few ways to permanently remove reactive nitrogen from ecosystems. Since excess reactive nitrogen in water contributes to serious water quality and human health problems like toxic algal blooms and bowel cancer, denitrification in streams can be considered a valuable ecosystem service. Watershed urbanization, however, may alter the structure of denitrifying bacteria communities in ways that constrain their capacity to remove reactive nitrogen from streams.

Watershed urbanization leads to drastic changes in receiving streams, with urban streams receiving a high frequency of scouring flows, together with increased nutrient (nitrogen and carbon), contaminant (e.g., heavy metals), and thermal pollution. These changes are known to cause significant losses of sensitive insect and fish species from urban streams. Microbes like denitrifying bacteria may be similarly affected. In the first part of this dissertation, we describe results from four repeated surveys of eight central North Carolina streams affected to varying degrees by watershed urbanization. For each stream and sampling date, we characterized both overall and denitrifying bacterial communities and measured denitrification potentials. Differences in overall and denitrifying bacteria community composition were strongly associated with the urbanization gradient. Denitrification potentials, which varied widely, were not significantly associated with substrate supply. By incorporating information on the community composition of denitrifying bacteria together with substrate supply in a linear mixed-effects model, we explained 45% of the variation in denitrification potential (p < 0.001). Results suggest that 1) watershed urbanization can lead to significant changes in the composition of bacterial communities in streams and 2) such changes may have important functional consequences.

The second part of this dissertation examines how urbanization-driven changes to the structure of denitrifying bacteria communities might affect the way they respond to stress or disturbance. Some communities can resist changes to functionality in response to disturbance, potentially as a result of previous exposure and subsequent adaptation (legacy hypothesis) or high diversity (insurance hypothesis). We compare the resistance of two structurally distinct denitrifying bacteria communities to experimental disturbances in laboratory microcosms. Communities originated from either a polluted, warm urban streams or a relatively pristine, cool forest stream. In this case, the two communities had comparable compositions, but forest communities were more diverse than their urban counterparts. Urban communities experienced significant reductions in denitrification rates in response to the most severe increased pollution and temperature treatments, while forest communities were unaffected by those same treatments. These findings support the insurance, but not the legacy hypothesis and suggest that the functioning of urban streams may be more susceptible to further environmental degradation than forest streams not heavily impacted by human activities.

In the third part of this dissertation, we discuss results from a one-time survey of denitrifying bacteria communities and denitrification potentials in 49 central North Carolina streams affected to varying degrees by watershed urbanization. We use multivariate statistics and structural equation modeling to address two key questions: 1) How do different urban impacts affect the structure of denitrifying bacteria communities and 2) How do abiotic (e.g., temperature) versus biotic (denitrifying bacteria community structure) factors affect denitrification potentials in urban streams? Denitrifying bacteria community structure was strongly affected by the urban impacts measured. Community composition responded to increased temperatures, substrate supply, and contamination, while diversity responded negatively to increased temperatures and hydrologic disturbance. Moreover, increased temperatures and substrate supply had significant positive effects, while urbanization-driven changes to denitrifying bacteria community structure had significant negative effects on denitrification potential. The structural equation model captured 63% of the variation in denitrification potential among sites and highlighted the important role that microbial community structure can play in regulating ecosystem functioning. These findings provide a novel explanation for recent observations of decreasing denitrification efficiency with increasing urbanization. Ultimately, we hope findings from this dissertation will help inform more effective stream management and restoration plans and motivate ecologists to consider including microbial community structure in ecosystem models of microbe-mediated processes.

My dissertation seeks to clarify the stakes of recent calls to increase civic friendship in our communities by initiating a conversation between contemporary and historical theoretical work about the requirements and consequences of using friendship as a model for social and political relationships between citizens. Friends’ lives are bound together by shared activity and by mutual concern and support; in what ways do relations between citizens, who often begin as strangers, take up these attitudes and behaviors? What kinds of civic friendship are possible in our contemporary democratic communities? How are they cultivated? And what are their political advantages and disadvantages? These questions guide the project as a whole.

I begin by canvassing some recent and popular work by Robert Bellah et al., Robert Putnam, and Danielle Allen in order to clarify the claims they make about different forms of civic friendship. The chapters that follow focus on the work of Aristotle, Tocqueville, and Adam Smith respectively in order to respond to various gaps I find in the contemporary accounts. I assess what each thinker, contemporary and canonical, can offer us today as we continue to think about the most sustainable and fair ways in which citizens can relate to one another in vast and diverse contemporary democracies. Along the way I address several important over-arching issues: the relationship between self-interest and care for others; the relationship between different sorts of equality and civic friendship; and the different roles that reason, emotions, habits, and institutions play in the cultivation of various kinds of civic friendship. I conclude that equality and justice ought to be both prerequisites and consequences of civic friendship, that self-interest is not a sufficient source for robust civic friendship and that instead some kind of imaginative and emotional motivation is needed, and that civic friendship must be understood as both a moral and a political phenomenon.

Abstract

There is a population of individuals classified as having Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This group of people should be included in places of worship, the schools they attend and the communities where they reside. Consequently, they are sometimes excluded from some occurrences that others experience.

Utilizing personal stories (of successes and sometimes failures), ASD parent interviews and research, I will offer suggestions for inclusion and enlighten the areas where there tends to be exclusion. My focus is the church and how church leaders may become involved in the lives of ASD parishioners to enhance inclusion in not only the church, but the school and the community as well.

My research shows that ASD parents would like their children to experience church as they have. Although willing, most churches, may lack the ability to oblige for various reasons. Schools where inclusion is not encouraged, rests primarily on the shoulders of the principals. Like pastors in churches, principals in schools have influence and can spearhead inclusion efforts in their respective entities. Community entities are willing to accommodate ASD clientele and have done so when approached to comply.

I contend where any of these entities are not willing to foster inclusion, then the church can and most often should become involved to assist, with the necessary training. In other words, the church must do what the church has always done – stand up for those who are unable to do so for themselves.

Keywords: Autism, church, community, inclusion, parents, school

Abstract

There is a population of individuals classified as having Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This group of people should be included in places of worship, the schools they attend and the communities where they reside. Consequently, they are sometimes excluded from some occurrences that others experience.

Utilizing personal stories (of successes and sometimes failures), ASD parent interviews and research, I will offer suggestions for inclusion and enlighten the areas where there tends to be exclusion. My focus is the church and how church leaders may become involved in the lives of ASD parishioners to enhance inclusion in not only the church, but the school and the community as well.

My research shows that ASD parents would like their children to experience church as they have. Although willing, most churches, may lack the ability to oblige for various reasons. Schools where inclusion is not encouraged, rests primarily on the shoulders of the principals. Like pastors in churches, principals in schools have influence and can spearhead inclusion efforts in their respective entities. Community entities are willing to accommodate ASD clientele and have done so when approached to comply.

I contend where any of these entities are not willing to foster inclusion, then the church can and most often should become involved to assist, with the necessary training. In other words, the church must do what the church has always done – stand up for those who are unable to do so for themselves.

Keywords: Autism, church, community, inclusion, parents, school

On January 16, 2016, I was installed as the pastor of Cary First Christian Church in Cary, NC. Cary First Christian Church was founded in 1868 as a congregationalist congregation for the African American community in Cary, NC. Since then, the church has sought to be a relevant community presence by addressing the challenges that face the surrounding community. As a pastor, I sought to build upon this legacy to be communally engaged by introducing a vision to the congregation to complete the design production of a community senior center and affordable housing complex that would seek to serve seniors, especially those who identify as low to moderate-income, African American, and Latino/Latinx, in the Cary Community.

This thesis will examine the theological framework that supported my pastoral vision of community development by drawing on a historical analysis of the ecclesiology of the Black Church, demonstrating the need for senior affordable housing in Cary, NC, and highlighting the ministry practices utilized to inspire collective participation in this vision. This thesis will demonstrate how a contextual exegesis of one’s context is essential in understanding the local community's needs, the congregation's capacity, and the network of resources available to determine a possible solution to a problem.

In the case of Cary First Christian Church, the problem was rising housing costs and the elimination of seniors aging in place. This problem was identified through members of the Cary First Christian Church serving seniors through a meal delivery program and witnessing the need for ongoing services to assist seniors in aging in place. Such a problem mirrors that of those in the early church, where members of the faith community needed vital resources, such as access to food and shelter. The New Testament church demonstrated intentional and organized support for those in need. Communities of faith should take a learning journey to determine how they can be sites of hospitality - meeting the needs of the most vulnerable. While some communities are not always willing to express radical hospitality - relinquishing control and being open to the improvisational move of the Holy Spirit, when communities commit themselves to being sites of hospitality, we begin to see the abundance of resources that are connected to us. This spirit inspired Cary First Christian Church as we recognized that we were blessed with assets that might be able to be deployed to help meet critical housing needs for seniors in our community.

Our knowledge of the kinds of trauma people experience and the impact that it has has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. Some margin of that knowledge has crossed over into the religious landscape, particularly about pastoral care and theology. This paper will take up the idea that preaching and, by extension, the other parts of the liturgy can be a part of reforming and healing the fractured imaginations of persons and communities who have experienced traumatic events, leading them to post-traumatic growth and thriving.My knowledge of preaching being far greater than my knowledge of trauma theory, my first priority was extensive research in that field; I studied how trauma impacts both individual bodies and whole communities, first utilizing Bessel van der Kolk and Judith Hermann, two established and well-regarded researchers. From there, I moved into source material from the medical field, finding significant intrigue in a 1688 dissertation from a medical library that was one of the first texts to describe the way traumatic events fracture imagination. Then I moved to experts in the field of preaching and worship – Will Willimon, Barbara Brown Taylor, Rick Lischer, Luke Powery, and more. It became clear that preaching is a vocation of words and imagination, and trauma’s chief impacts rob people of those very things. Thus, preachers have a critical role to play in the healing of their communities by providing shared, sacred language and a space to reintegrate broken imaginations.