Controversy and counternarrative in the social studies

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)This qualitative study sought to explore reasons why social studies teachers chose to teach controversial issues and counternarratives in their classroom in an era where doing so is dangerous for teachers and their job security, and how they go about doing so in their classrooms. The theoretical framework of this study encompassed the notion that the five selected teachers embodied and practiced elements of Foucauldian parrhēsía, which is teaching the truth despite the risk of doing so, despite not having explicit knowledge of this particular philosophy, and utilized counternarratives and controversial issues as a means of challenging dominant social norms to bring about a more just and equitable society. The existing literature suggests that their pre-service teacher education provided little influence on their decisions, despite the positive historical, personal, and democratic outcomes from teaching a curriculum exploring controversial issues and counternarratives. Five teachers were recommended for this study due to their reputations for teaching controversial issues and counternarratives in their social studies classrooms. After interviewing and observing these teachers, a number of interesting findings came to light, including a list of best practices for how to teach controversial issues in the classroom, reasons why the teachers taught controversial issues in the classroom, structures of support and barriers for teaching a critical social studies curriculum, and differences between those who believed they taught controversial issues in their classroom but did not, and those who actually did

Ozone and the deterioration of works of art

Seventeen artists' watercolor pigment samples and two Japanese woodblock prints were exposed to 0.40 ppm ozone in a controlled test chamber for three months. It was found that several artists' pigments when applied on paper will fade in the absence of light if exposed to an atmosphere containing ozone at the concentrations found in photochemical smog. Alizarin-based watercolors containing 1,2 dihydroxyanthraquinone lake pigments were shown to be particularly sensitive to ozone damage, as were the yellow pigments used in the Japanese woodblock prints tested. Indoor-outdoor ozone monitoring in a Pasadena, CA art gallery confirmed that ozone concentrations half as high as those outdoors can be found in art galleries that lack a chemically protected air conditioning system. Care should be taken to protect works of art from damage due to photochemical smog

Post-polymerization functionalization of poly(ethylene oxide)–poly(β-6-heptenolactone) diblock copolymers to tune properties and self-assembly

Copolymers were synthesized and functionalized with a variety of moieties to tune self-assembly and install drugs or fluorescent dyes. , Polyester-based amphiphilic block copolymers and their nanoassemblies are of significant interest for a wide range of applications due to the degradability of the polyester block. However, the commonly used polyesters lack functional groups on their backbones, limiting the possibilities to chemically modify these polymers. Described here are new poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)–poly(β-6-heptenolactone) (PHEL) block copolymers having pendant alkenes at each repeat unit on the PHEL block. First, the self-assembly of these block copolymers in aqueous solution was studied and it was found that they formed solid nanoparticles and vesicles depending on the relative block lengths. Next the alkene moieties of the block copolymer were modified with either hydrophilic or hydrophobic pendant groups using thiol–ene reactions, allowing the hydrophilic mass fractions and consequently the self-assembled morphologies to be tuned, accessing both smaller nanoparticles and cylindrical assemblies. It was also demonstrated that the anti-cancer drug paclitaxel or a fluorescent rhodamine dye could be easily conjugated to the block copolymers and the self-assembly of these conjugates was explored. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate that PEO-PHEL block copolymers can serve as versatile backbones for the preparation of functional, polyester-based materials

Nitrogen dynamics in arctic tundra soils of varying age : differential responses to fertilization and warming

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2013. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oecologia 173 (2013): 1575-1586, doi:10.1007/s00442-013-2733-5.In the northern foothills of the Brooks Range, Alaska, a series of glacial retreats has created a landscape that varies widely in time since deglaciation (= soil age), from ~10k years to more than 2M years. Productivity of the moist tundra that covers most of this landscape is generally N-limited, but varies widely, as do plant-species composition and key soil properties such as pH. These differences might be altered in the future because of the projected increase in N availability under a warmer climate. We hypothesized that future changes in productivity and vegetation composition across soil ages might be mediated through changes in N availability. To test this hypothesis, we compared readily available-N (water-soluble ammonium, nitrate, and amino acids), moderately-available N (soluble proteins), hydrolysable-N, and total-N pools across three tussock-tundra landscapes with soil ages ranging from 11.5k to 300k years. We also compared the effects of long-term fertilization and warming on these N pools for the two younger sites, in order to assess whether the impacts of warming and increased N availability differ by soil age. Readily available N was largest at the oldest site, and amino acids (AA) accounted for 80-89 % of this N. At the youngest site, however, inorganic N constituted the majority (80-97%) of total readily-available N. This variation reflected the large differences in plant functional-group composition and soil chemical properties. Long-term (8-16 years) fertilization increased soluble inorganic N by 20-100 fold at the intermediate-age site, but only by 2-3 fold at the youngest-soil site. Warming caused small and inconsistent changes in the soil C:N ratio and soluble AA, but only in soils beneath Eriophorum vaginatum, the dominant tussock-forming sedge. These differential responses suggest that the impacts of warmer climates on these tundra ecosystems are more complex than simply elevated N mineralization, and that the response of the N cycling might differ strongly depending on the ecosystem’s soil age, initial soil properties, and plant-community composition.Primary financial support came from NSF grant #DEB-0444592 to the MBL, and additional logistical support from NSF-OPP

An ortholog of the Vasa intronic gene is required for small RNA-mediated translation repression in \u3ci\u3eChlamydomonas reinhardtii\u3c/i\u3e

Small RNAs (sRNAs) associate with Argonaute (AGO) proteins in effector complexes, termed RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISCs), which regulate complementary transcripts by translation inhibition and/or RNA degradation. In the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas, several metazoans, and land plants, emerging evidence indicates that polyribosome-associated transcripts can be translationally repressed by RISCs without substantial messenger RNA (mRNA) destabilization. However, the mechanism of translation inhibition in a polyribosomal context is not understood. Here we show that Chlamydomonas VIG1, an ortholog of the Drosophila melanogaster Vasa intronic gene (VIG), is required for this process. VIG1 localizes predominantly in the cytosol and comigrates with monoribosomes and polyribosomes by sucrose density gradient sedimentation. A VIG1- deleted mutant shows hypersensitivity to the translation elongation inhibitor cycloheximide, suggesting that VIG1 may have a nonessential role in ribosome function/structure. Additionally, FLAG-tagged VIG1 copurifies with AGO3 and Dicer-like 3 (DCL3), consistent with it also being a component of the RISC. Indeed, VIG1 is necessary for the repression of sRNA-targeted transcripts at the translational level but is dispensable for cleavagemediated RNA interference and for the association of the AGO3 effector with polyribosomes or target transcripts. Our results suggest that VIG1 is an ancillary ribosomal component and plays a role in sRNA-mediated translation repression of polyribosomal transcripts

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia comorbid with COPD is feasible with preliminary evidence of positive sleep and fatigue effects

Background: Many people with COPD report difficulties falling asleep or staying asleep, insufficient sleep duration, or nonrestorative sleep. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) has proved effective not only in people with primary insomnia but also in people with insomnia comorbid with psychiatric and medical illness (eg, depression, cancer, and chronic pain). However, CBT-I has rarely been tested in those with COPD who have disease-related features that interfere with sleep and may lessen the effectiveness of such therapies. The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of applying a CBT-I intervention for people with COPD and to assess the impact of CBT-I on insomnia severity and sleep-related outcomes, fatigue, mood, and daytime functioning. Methods: The study had two phases. In Phase 1, a 6-weekly session CBT-I intervention protocol in participants with COPD was assessed to examine feasibility and acceptability. Phase 2 was a small trial utilizing a prospective two-group pre- and post-test design with random assignment to the six-session CBT-I or a six-session wellness education (WE) program to determine the effects of each intervention, with both interventions being provided by a nurse behavioral sleep medicine specialist. Results: Fourteen participants (five in Phase 1 and nine in Phase 2) completed six sessions of CBT-I and nine participants completed six sessions of WE. Participants indicated that both interventions were acceptable. Significant positive treatment-related effects of the CBT-I intervention were noted for insomnia severity (P = 0.000), global sleep quality (P = 0.002), wake after sleep onset (P = 0.03), sleep efficiency (P = 0.02), fatigue (P = 0.005), and beliefs and attitudes about sleep (P = 0.000). Significant positive effects were noted for depressed mood after WE (P = 0.005). Conclusion: Results suggest that using CBT-I in COPD is feasible and the outcomes compare favorably with those obtained in older adults with insomnia in the context of other chronic illnesses

The FM-007: An advanced jet commuter for HUB to spoke transportation

Due to the increasing need for new commuter aircraft, the FM-007 is proposed, a technologically advanced jet propelled short takeoff and landing (STOL) airplane. The proposed commuter is designed for hub to spoke air travel. In order to reduce drag, natural laminar flow technology is integrated into the design using the natural laminar flow airfoil section for the wing. A three lifting surface configuration provides for more efficient cruise flight. This unique design includes a small forward wing (canard), a rear mounted high aspect ratio main wing, and a small horizontal stabilizer high atop the vertical tail. These three surfaces act together to reduce drag by minimizing the downward force the horizontal stabilizer has to account for due to the nose down pitching moment. Commuter aircraft must also incorporate passenger comfort. This is achieved by providing a spacious pressurized cabin with a large galley and reduced cabin noise due to incorporation of noise reduction gear. A basic oval design is adopted, as opposed to a circular design in order to allow for the seating of five passengers abreast. To get STOL capability, an over the wing blown flap is used using a Rolls Royce Tay series engine

Binary Quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Evidence for Excess Clustering on Small Scales

We present a sample of 218 new quasar pairs with proper transverse separations R_prop < 1 Mpc/h over the redshift range 0.5 < z < 3.0, discovered from an extensive follow up campaign to find companions around the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and 2dF Quasar Redshift Survey quasars. This sample includes 26 new binary quasars with separations R_prop < 50 kpc/h (theta < 10 arcseconds), more than doubling the number of such systems known. We define a statistical sample of binaries selected with homogeneous criteria and compute its selection function, taking into account sources of incompleteness. The first measurement of the quasar correlation function on scales 10 kpc/h < R_prop < 400 kpc/h is presented. For R_prop < 40 kpc/h, we detect an order of magnitude excess clustering over the expectation from the large scale R_prop > 3 Mpc/h quasar correlation function, extrapolated down as a power law to the separations probed by our binaries. The excess grows to ~ 30 at R_prop ~ 10 kpc/h, and provides compelling evidence that the quasar autocorrelation function gets progressively steeper on sub-Mpc scales. This small scale excess can likely be attributed to dissipative interaction events which trigger quasar activity in rich environments. Recent small scale measurements of galaxy clustering and quasar-galaxy clustering are reviewed and discussed in relation to our measurement of small scale quasar clustering.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, 9 tables. Submitted to the Astronomical Journa

Clustering of High Redshift (z≥2.9z\ge 2.9) Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

(Abridged) We study the two-point correlation function of a uniformly selected sample of 4,426 luminous optical quasars with redshift $2.9 \le z\le 5.4$ selected over 4041 deg$^2$ from the Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. For a real-space correlation function of the form $\xi(r)=(r/r_0)^{-\gamma}$, the fitted parameters in comoving coordinates are $r_0 = 15.2 \pm 2.7 h^{-1}$ Mpc and $\gamma = 2.0 \pm 0.3$, over a scale range $4\le r_p\le 150 h^{-1}$ Mpc. Thus high-redshift quasars are appreciably more strongly clustered than their $z \approx 1.5$ counterparts, which have a comoving clustering length $r_0 \approx 6.5 h^{-1}$ Mpc. Dividing our sample into two redshift bins: $2.9\le z\le 3.5$ and $z\ge 3.5$, and assuming a power-law index $\gamma=2.0$, we find a correlation length of $r_0 = 16.9 \pm 1.7 h^{-1}$ Mpc for the former, and $r_0 = 24.3 \pm 2.4 h^{-1}$ Mpc for the latter. Following Martini & Weinberg, we relate the clustering strength and quasar number density to the quasar lifetimes and duty cycle. Using the Sheth & Tormen halo mass function, the quasar lifetime is estimated to lie in the range $4\sim 50$ Myr for quasars with $2.9\le z\le 3.5$; and $30\sim 600$ Myr for quasars with $z\ge 3.5$. The corresponding duty cycles are $0.004\sim 0.05$ for the lower redshift bin and $0.03\sim 0.6$ for the higher redshift bin. The minimum mass of halos in which these quasars reside is $2-3\times 10^{12}\ h^{-1}M_\odot$for quasars with$2.9\le z\le 3.5$and$4-6\times 10^{12}\ h^{-1}M_\odot$for quasars with$z\ge 3.5$.Comment: To appear in AJ; 20 emulateapj pages; supplemental materials can be found at http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~yshen/highz_qso_clustering/qso_clustering.ht