Where image and text meet identity: Gifted students’ poetry comics and the crafting of “nerd identities”

This article reports on a study of how a class of fifteen- and sixteen-year-old gifted high school students “mixed” the media of poetry and comics to unveil and interrogate (what they called) their “nerd identities.” Both co-authors constructed and co-taught a class within a literature-based comics course that led students through various writing processes that focused on the visual and textual properties of poetry and comics. Researchers asked: How may gifted students use poetry and comics to write about identity? How can the mixing of poetry and comics contribute to media literacy education? Using their poetry comics to connect their “nerd identities” to superheroes, students reported seeing parallels between the trials and tribulations of superhero origin stories and their own “gifted” identity

MEANS OF CONVEYANCE: SPOKEN WORD PEDAGOGY, HIP HOP LITERACIES, AND THE CHALLENGES OF FOSTERING POETRY SPACES

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, School of Education, 2020This dissertation examined the relationships between teachers, students, and “teaching artists” (Graham, 2009) who use poetry as a vehicle for literacy learning. One popular practice is the use of “spoken word,” (Somers-Willett, 2009) a fiery brand of performative poetry popularized by artists from the hip hop music scene (Hill, 2009) and the competitive poetry slam circuit (Woods, 2008). A wealth of qualitative studies extol the virtues of “spoken word pedagogy,” (Kim, 2013; Low, 2011; Weinstein, 2010) noting its power when used as a vehicle for writers to construct literate identities (Fisher, 2007) and form critiques of socio-political issues (Jocson, 2008). To best understand how these dialogic communities operate in precarious times, this study explored the numerous, overlapping spaces where spoken word is used as a pedagogy for multiliteracies. This dissertation employed a practice that Prendergast (2009) called “poetic inquiry,” a creative approach to qualitative inquiry where the researcher adopts the tools a poet uses to search for truth in the world. To explore critical issues in the global spoken word community, a new, hip-hop-infused version of poetic inquiry was created for this study, called “(re)mixed methods.” The findings of this four year study reveal that collaborative teams of poets often face concrete challenges sustaining educational poetry programs, which threaten the relationships necessary to hearten such communities. Findings also highlight that many participants use poetry to name these barriers that repress them, authoring striking narratives about issues such as economic inequality, the need for school reform, structural racism, gender discrimination, the school-to-prison pipeline, and the unmet mental health needs of students. The implications of these findings challenge stakeholders to consider how spoken word pedagogy ix serves as a conduit for intergenerational dialogue, and could be used to help collaborative learning communities envision a future beyond the challenges they face

Le souffle poétique

This special issue of JCACS amplifies and intersects multiple themes that challenge our capacity to access air. We invited research presented at the 2019 International Symposium on Poetic Inquiry, as well as new poetic inquiry that engages, plays with, ignites and challenges notions of action in a time of legislated inaction, work that counteracts silencing the breath inside our bones. We looked for oxygen where there was none. The editors of this special issue all use poetry as a form of inquiry in their lives and academic work, and we are delighted to share the work of our colleagues from the poetic inquiry community. We believe that this issue demonstrates the value of using poetic inquiry in academia to highlight the voices of those underrepresented and thus is a vital contribution to the research community.Ce numéro spécial de RACEC amplifie et croise de multiples thèmes qui remettent en question notre capacité à accéder à l'air. Nous avons invité des recherches présentées au Symposium international sur l'enquête poétique 2019, ainsi que des nouvelles enquêtes poétiques qui engagent, jouent avec, enflamment et défient les notions d'action à une époque d'inaction légiférée, un travail qui contrecarre le silence du souffle à l'intérieur de nos os. Nous avons cherché de l'oxygène là où il n'y en avait pas. Les rédacteurs/trices de ce numéro spécial utilisent tous la poésie comme une forme de recherche dans leur vie et leur travail universitaire, et nous sommes ravis de partager le travail de nos collègues de la communauté de recherche poétique. Nous pensons que ce numéro démontre la valeur de l'utilisation de l'enquête poétique dans le monde universitaire pour mettre en lumière les voix de ceux qui sont sous-représentés et constitue donc une contribution essentielle à la communauté des chercheurs

K2-231 b: A sub-Neptune exoplanet transiting a solar twin in Ruprecht 147

We identify a sub-Neptune exoplanet ($R_p = 2.5 \pm 0.2$ R$_\oplus$) transiting a solar twin in the Ruprecht 147 star cluster (3 Gyr, 300 pc, [Fe/H] = +0.1 dex). The ~81 day light curve for EPIC 219800881 (V = 12.71) from K2 Campaign 7 shows six transits with a period of 13.84 days, a depth of ~0.06%, and a duration of ~4 hours. Based on our analysis of high-resolution MIKE spectra, broadband optical and NIR photometry, the cluster parallax and interstellar reddening, and isochrone models from PARSEC, Dartmouth, and MIST, we estimate the following properties for the host star: $M_\star = 1.01 \pm 0.03$ M$_\odot$, $R_\star= 0.95 \pm 0.03$ R$_\odot$, and $T_{\rm eff} = 5695 \pm 50$ K. This star appears to be single, based on our modeling of the photometry, the low radial velocity variability measured over nearly ten years, and Keck/NIRC2 adaptive optics imaging and aperture-masking interferometry. Applying a probabilistic mass-radius relation, we estimate that the mass of this planet is $M_p = 7 +5 -3$ M$_\oplus$, which would cause a RV semi-amplitude of $K = 2 \pm 1$ m s$^{-1}$ that may be measurable with existing precise RV facilities. After statistically validating this planet with BLENDER, we now designate it K2-231 b, making it the second sub-stellar object to be discovered in Ruprecht 147 and the first planet; it joins the small but growing ranks of 23 other planets found in open clusters.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures, light curve included as separate fil

Autologous humanized PDX modeling for immuno-oncology recapitulates features of the human tumor microenvironment.

BACKGROUND: Interactions between immune and tumor cells are critical to determining cancer progression and response. In addition, preclinical prediction of immune-related drug efficacy is limited by interspecies differences between human and mouse, as well as inter-person germline and somatic variation. To address these gaps, we developed an autologous system that models the tumor microenvironment (TME) from individual patients with solid tumors. METHOD: With patient-derived bone marrow hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs), we engrafted a patient\u27s hematopoietic system in MISTRG6 mice, followed by transfer of patient-derived xenograft (PDX) tissue, providing a fully genetically matched model to recapitulate the individual\u27s TME. We used this system to prospectively study tumor-immune interactions in patients with solid tumor. RESULTS: Autologous PDX mice generated innate and adaptive immune populations; these cells populated the TME; and tumors from autologously engrafted mice grew larger than tumors from non-engrafted littermate controls. Single-cell transcriptomics revealed a prominent vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) signature in TME myeloid cells, and inhibition of human VEGF-A abrogated enhanced growth. CONCLUSIONS: Humanization of the interleukin 6 locus in MISTRG6 mice enhances HSPC engraftment, making it feasible to model tumor-immune interactions in an autologous manner from a bedside bone marrow aspirate. The TME from these autologous tumors display hallmarks of the human TME including innate and adaptive immune activation and provide a platform for preclinical drug testing

The TESS Grand Unified Hot Jupiter Survey. I. Ten TESS Planets

We report the discovery of ten short-period giant planets (TOI-2193A b, TOI-2207 b, TOI-2236 b, TOI-2421 b, TOI-2567 b, TOI-2570 b, TOI-3331 b, TOI-3540A b, TOI-3693 b, TOI-4137 b). All of the planets were identified as planet candidates based on periodic flux dips observed by NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The signals were confirmed to be from transiting planets using ground-based time-series photometry, high angular resolution imaging, and high-resolution spectroscopy coordinated with the TESS Follow-up Observing Program. The ten newly discovered planets orbit relatively bright F and G stars ($G < 12.5$,~$T_\mathrm{eff}$ between 4800 and 6200 K). The planets' orbital periods range from 2 to 10~days, and their masses range from 0.2 to 2.2 Jupiter masses. TOI-2421 b is notable for being a Saturn-mass planet and TOI-2567 b for being a ``sub-Saturn'', with masses of $0.322\pm 0.073$ and $0.195\pm 0.030$ Jupiter masses, respectively. In most cases, we have little information about the orbital eccentricities. Two exceptions are TOI-2207 b, which has an 8-day period and a detectably eccentric orbit ($e = 0.17\pm0.05$), and TOI-3693 b, a 9-day planet for which we can set an upper limit of $e < 0.052$. The ten planets described here are the first new planets resulting from an effort to use TESS data to unify and expand on the work of previous ground-based transit surveys in order to create a large and statistically useful sample of hot Jupiters.Comment: 44 pages, 15 tables, 21 figures; revised version submitted to A

Binary systems and their nuclear explosions

Peer ReviewedPreprin

TOI-1259Ab – a gas giant planet with 2.7 per cent deep transits and a bound white dwarf companion

We present TOI-1259Ab, a 1.0RJup gas giant planet transiting a 0.71R⊙ K-dwarf on a 3.48 d orbit. The system also contains a bound white dwarf companion TOI-1259B with a projected distance of ∼1600 au from the planet host. Transits are observed in nine TESS sectors and are 2.7 per cent deep – among the deepest known – making TOI-1259Ab a promising target for atmospheric characterization. Our follow-up radial velocity measurements indicate a variability of semiamplitude $K=71\, \rm m\, s^{-1}$, implying a planet mass of 0.44MJup. By fitting the spectral energy distribution of the white dwarf, we derive a total age of $4.08^{+1.21}_{-0.53}$ Gyr for the system. The K dwarf’s light curve reveals rotational variability with a period of 28 d, which implies a gyrochronology age broadly consistent with the white dwarf’s total age