The Metadata Education and Research Information Commons (MERIC): A Collaborative Teaching and Research Initiative

The networked environment forced a sea change in Library and Information Science (LIS) education. Most LIS programs offer a mixed-mode of instruction that integrates online learning materials with more traditional classroom pedagogical methods and faculty are now responsible for developing content and digital learning objects. The teaching commons in a networked environment is one way to share, modify and repurpose learning objects while reducing the costs to educational institutions of developing course materials totally inhouse. It also provides a venue for sharing ideas, practices, and expertise in order to provide the best learning experience for students. Because metadata education has been impacted by rapid changes and metadata research is interdisciplinary and diffuse, the Metadata Education and Research Information Commons (MERIC) initiative aims to provide a virtual environment for sharing and collaboration within the extensive metadata community. This paper describes the development of MERIC from its origin as a simple clearinghouse proof-of-concept project to a service-oriented teaching and research commons prototype. The problems of enablers and barriers to participation and collaboration are discussed and the need for specific community building research is cited as critical for the success of MERIC within a broad metadata community

An Assembly Contamination Model

Mathematical model of spacecraft contamination for treating contamination amount and its surface distribution on structures as random variable

Studying Policy Through Violence: The social conditions of education reform in Mexico

This paper explores current Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s 2013 public education reform through ethnographic engagement, archival research, and interviews in Mexico City and Guerrero, Mexico. By May 2013, the National Coordination of Education Workers’ (CNTE)—the primary education reform opposition movement—had gained national traction and more than 40,000 educators from various states indefinitely relocated to Mexico City’s zocalo. In this paper, the author presents an account of the social conditions of policy formation and experiences of violence in the lives of teachers, legislators, political advisors, students, and community members, engaged in shaping education and opposing the reform. An anthropological approach to policy and violence embraces the analytical horizons of a world that prompts us to consider such large-scale phenomena as economic crises, neoliberal policies, and forced disappearances. A focus on dispersed communities allowed the author to explore the ways in which people engage, change, and experience the violence of policy across fluid borders, instead of how policy impacts presumably bounded communities. This Paper was awarded the Society for Urban National and Transnational/global Anthropology graduate student paper prize in 2014

The contextual realities of being a lesbian physical educator : living in two worlds.

The purpose of this study was to describe, from their perspectives, the experiences of lesbian physical education teachers who work in the public schools and the meanings they made of their experiences. The participants were elementary and secondary school physical educators who identified themselves as lesbians. Twelve teachers were interviewed using an in-depth phenomenological approach. The teachers interviewed were women of various ages, races, and social class backgrounds who taught in rural, urban, and suburban schools. The interview materials were presented in two ways: individual profiles of eight participants and common themes. Several key points from the data emerged. First, the participants made two assumptions about being a lesbian physical educator: (a) as a lesbian, you will lose your job if you are open about your sexual orientation, and (b) female physical educators are stereotyped as being lesbians. Second, the participants actively attempted to separate their personal and professional lives. Third, the participants used a variety of strategies to manage their lesbian identities within school settings. These strategies were used both to conceal and reveal their sexual orientation. Living in two worlds was an accepted reality for the lesbian physical educators in this study. A conceptual model outlining the process by which the participants made decisions about managing their identities as lesbian physical educators was presented. Feminism and oppression theory were used to discuss the participants\u27 experiences. The participants\u27 descriptions revealed the prevalence of homophobia and heterosexism within physical education environments. The lesbian label was specifically used to intimidate or harass women in physical education. The homophobia and heterosexism the participants encountered in their worlds kept them silent, isolated, fearful of discovery, and powerless. Consequently, the participants in this study did not share a collective identity as a subordinate or oppressed group. Developing a collective identity was described as a critical next step in changing the conditions of their oppression as lesbian physical educators

A preliminary quarantine analysis of a possible Mariner Venus 1972 mission

Spacecraft contamination preliminary quarantine analysis for possible 1972 Mariner Venus prob

League Bilong Laif: rugby, education and sport-for-development partnerships in Papua New Guinea

© 2016 Taylor & Francis. League Bilong Laif (LBL) is a sport-for-development (SFD) programme that was established in 2013 as a three-way partnership between the Australian Government, the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Government (Department of Education) and the Australian Rugby League Commission (National Rugby League). As a contribution to addressing low rates of school attendance and significant problems with anti-social behaviour within PNG communities, LBL was designed to contribute to (1) improvements in student engagement with education in and out of the classroom; and (2) communication of positive social messages, with a focus on respect generally, and gender equity in particular. This paper discusses the qualitative review of the pilot phase of the LBL project, and the implications for programme design and delivery for education outcomes through a SFD programme. Data were collected through a combination of 23 interviews and focus groups with 33 individual representatives from relevant organisations and government departments in the areas of sport, education and community development. Preliminary findings indicate that despite a challenging beginning, the LBL programme has made some progress in terms of the initial development of programme aims and stakeholder engagement, largely because of the rigorous design process that kept desired programme outcomes at the forefront

Speckle Camera Observations for the NASA Kepler Mission Follow-up Program

We present the first results from a speckle imaging survey of stars classified as candidate exoplanet host stars discovered by the Kepler mission. We use speckle imaging to search for faint companions or closely aligned background stars that could contribute flux to the Kepler light curves of their brighter neighbors. Background stars are expected to contribute significantly to the pool of false positive candidate transiting exoplanets discovered by the Kepler mission, especially in the case that the faint neighbors are eclipsing binary stars. Here, we describe our Kepler follow-up observing program, the speckle imaging camera used, our data reduction, and astrometric and photometric performance. Kepler stars range from R = 8 to 16 and our observations attempt to provide background non-detection limits 5-6 mag fainter and binary separations of ~0.05-2.0 arcsec. We present data describing the relative brightness, separation, and position angles for secondary sources, as well as relative plate limits for non-detection of faint nearby stars around each of 156 target stars. Faint neighbors were found near 10 of the stars

Unanticipated differences between α- and γ-diaminobutyric acid-linked hairpin polyamide-alkylator conjugates

Hairpin polyamide–chlorambucil conjugates containing an {alpha}-diaminobutyric acid ({alpha}-DABA) turn moiety are compared to their constitutional isomers containing the well-characterized {gamma}-DABA turn. Although the DNA-binding properties of unconjugated polyamides are similar, the {alpha}-DABA conjugates display increased alkylation specificity and decreased rate of reaction. Treatment of a human colon carcinoma cell line with {alpha}-DABA versus {gamma}-DABA hairpin conjugates shows only slight differences in toxicities while producing similar effects on cell morphology and G2/M stage cell cycle arrest. However, striking differences in animal toxicity between the two classes are observed. Although mice treated with an {alpha}-DABA hairpin polyamide do not differ significantly from control mice, the analogous {gamma}-DABA hairpin is lethal. This dramatic difference from a subtle structural change would not have been predicted