Afro-Americano: The Transracialization of the African-American Spanish Speaker

Transracialization is not a biological term connoting the change of one’s skin tone to become a member of a different race. Its definition has its roots in racialization—the ideological process that describes how one assembles ideas about groups based on their race and decides, for example, what a ‘Black’ person is and how ‘Black’ people speak. Thus, transracialization is a linguistic term that describes the political and sociocultural act of recontextualizing one’s phenotype with the use of language, and in so doing, upending the observers’ stereotypical expectations of who one is (Alim 2016). This dissertation deals with how Spanish influences and transforms the identity of minoritized groups like African-Americans in the U.S. context. I define the term ‘Afro-Americano’ as a/an Black/African-American who has lived a Hispanic/Latinx experience in the United States, most notably demonstrated by a proficiency in the Spanish language and affiliation and/or participation in the cultural practices of one or more Hispanic/Latinx cultures. This study interviewed and analyzed African-Americans (in both multi ethnic urban communities as well as on social media platforms like YouTube) who are modifying definitive racial labels and boundaries by becoming pedagogues of Spanish, speaking the language in their homes, communities, schools and jobs. The main questions that the project seeks to answer are; 1. How do daily interactions in conversational Spanish shape the lives of African-Americans? 2. How do these speakers perceive themselves in relation to Hispanics and other African-Americans and vice-versa? 3. Do Afro-Americanos consciously use their Black bodies in service of a transraced identity and if so, how? and 4. How does racialization manifest and become challenged at the racio/ethno/linguistic 3-way intersection between Blackness, African-American ethnicity, and the Spanish language. The four major themes that emerged in the analysis as crucial to understanding African-Americans who occupy transracialized identities are: motivation in Spanish language acquisition, the ‘shocked’ reactions of interlocutors, the mechanics of transracialization and the repertoire of identities, and Afro-Americanismo as an agent of social and political change

A Re-examination of the Effect of Masker Phase Curvature on Non-simultaneous Masking.

Forward masking of a sinusoidal signal is determined not only by the masker's power spectrum but also by its phase spectrum. Specifically, when the phase spectrum is such that the output of an auditory filter centred on the signal has a highly modulated ("peaked") envelope, there is less masking than when that envelope is flat. This finding has been attributed to non-linearities, such as compression, reducing the average neural response to maskers that produce more peaked auditory filter outputs (Carlyon and Datta, J Acoust Soc Am 101:3636-3647, 1997). Here we evaluate an alternative explanation proposed by Wotcjzak and Oxenham (Wojtczak and Oxenham, J Assoc Res Otolaryngol 10:595-607, 2009). They reported a masker phase effect for 6-kHz signals when the masker components were at least an octave below the signal frequency. Wotcjzak and Oxenham argued that this effect was inconsistent with cochlear compression, and, because it did not occur at lower signal frequencies, was also inconsistent with more central compression. It was instead attributed to activation of the efferent system reducing the response to the subsequent probe. Here, experiment 1 replicated their main findings. Experiment 2 showed that the phase effect on off-frequency forward masking is similar at signal frequencies of 2 and 6 kHz, provided that one equates the number of components likely to interact within an auditory filter centred on the signal, thereby roughly equating the effect of masker phase on the peakiness of that filter output. Experiment 3 showed that for some subjects, masker phase also had a strong influence on off-frequency backward masking of the signal, and that the size of this effect correlated across subjects with that observed in forward masking. We conclude that the masker phase effect is mediated mainly by cochlear non-linearities, with a possible additional effect of more central compression. The data are not consistent with a role for the efferent system

Correcting x ray spectra obtained from the AXAF VETA-I mirror calibration for pileup, continuum, background and deadtime

The VETA-I mirror was calibrated with the use of a collimated soft X-ray source produced by electron bombardment of various anode materials. The FWHM, effective area and encircled energy were measured with the use of proportional counters that were scanned with a set of circular apertures. The pulsers from the proportional counters were sent through a multichannel analyzer that produced a pulse height spectrum. In order to characterize the properties of the mirror at different discrete photon energies one desires to extract from the pulse height distribution only those photons that originated from the characteristic line emission of the X-ray target source. We have developed a code that fits a modeled spectrum to the observed X-ray data, extracts the counts that originated from the line emission, and estimates the error in these counts. The function that is fitted to the X-ray spectra includes a Prescott function for the resolution of the detector a second Prescott function for a pileup peak and a X-ray continuum function. The continuum component is determined by calculating the absorption of the target Bremsstrahlung through various filters correcting for the reflectivity of the mirror and convolving with the detector response

Pharmacologic inhibition of reactive gliosis blocks TNF-α-mediated neuronal apoptosis.

Reactive gliosis is an early pathological feature common to most neurodegenerative diseases, yet its regulation and impact remain poorly understood. Normally astrocytes maintain a critical homeostatic balance. After stress or injury they undergo rapid parainflammatory activation, characterized by hypertrophy, and increased polymerization of type III intermediate filaments (IFs), particularly glial fibrillary acidic protein and vimentin. However, the consequences of IF dynamics in the adult CNS remains unclear, and no pharmacologic tools have been available to target this mechanism in vivo. The mammalian retina is an accessible model to study the regulation of astrocyte stress responses, and their influence on retinal neuronal homeostasis. In particular, our work and others have implicated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling as a key regulator of glutamate recycling, antioxidant activity and cytokine secretion by astrocytes and related Müller glia, with potent influences on neighboring neurons. Here we report experiments with the small molecule inhibitor, withaferin A (WFA), to specifically block type III IF dynamics in vivo. WFA was administered in a model of metabolic retinal injury induced by kainic acid, and in combination with a recent model of debridement-induced astrocyte reactivity. We show that WFA specifically targets IFs and reduces astrocyte and Müller glial reactivity in vivo. Inhibition of glial IF polymerization blocked p38 MAPK-dependent secretion of TNF-α, resulting in markedly reduced neuronal apoptosis. To our knowledge this is the first study to demonstrate that pharmacologic inhibition of IF dynamics in reactive glia protects neurons in vivo

Loss-of-function analysis of EphA receptors in retinotectal mapping

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Experimentation of Electrospray Methodology with Carbon Nanotubes

The focus of the research was design, economically building, and testing of an electrospray platform which will be employed to deposit uniform coatings of carbon nanomaterials to large surfaces. Electrospray, also known as electrohydrodynamic spray or e-spray, is a liquid atomization technique that can generate fine droplets to produce coatings with a high degree of uniformity. The carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene dispersions in water are particularly attractive due to their bulk processing, ease of storage, freedom for tuning the concentration, and for their potential applications in biology and aerospace. This Electrospray platform will be used to apply CNT films, with varying quantities of graphene, that will carry a charge across non-conductive surfaces to act as a de-icing element for aircraft and spacecraft structures. This platform will be utilized for coating large area of non-conductive surfaces which will carry a charge across the structure to act as a de-icing element for aircraft and spacecraft structures

Establishment and operation of a Good Manufacturing Practice-compliant allogeneic Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific cytotoxic cell bank for the treatment of EBV-associated lymphoproliferative disease

Funded by Wellcome Trust Translational Award SNBTSPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Retinal blood flow in patients with primary open angle glaucoma and optic disc hemorrhage

Purpose:To investigate total retinal blood flow (TRBF) and retinal blood flow (RBF) in the superior (S) and the inferior (I) retinal hemifields in patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) both with and without disc hemorrhage (DH). Methods:RBF measurements were obtained from 10 POAG with DH (mean age 71.7, SD=7.39; 9 females)and 10 age matched POAG without DH (mean age 70, SD = 5.27; 6 females) using Doppler SD-OCT (RTVue; Optovue Inc, Fremont, CA, USA) as well as bi-directional laser Doppler flowmetry with densitometry (CLBF-100, Canon, Tokyo, Japan). TRBF measurements were compared between groups, within group for SRBF and IRBF, and for inter-ocular asymmetry (ANOVA; p<0.05). Correlation between TRBF and age, and TRBF and Mean Deviation of Humphrey automated perimetry were also analyzed. Results:Venous TRBF in the POAG with DH group (n=10, 27.1 μl/min, SD 7) was significantly lower than in the age-matched POAG without DH group (n=10, 38.83 μl/min, SD 10.66, p=0.009). RBF was not significantly different between the superior and inferior hemifields for either POAG with DH (p=0.763) or POAG without DH (p=0.481). In the POAG with DH group, venous TRBF was significantly lower in the DH eye (n=8, 28.73 μl/min, SD 6.87) compared to the contralateral eye without DH (n=8, 38.44 μl/min, SD 7.11, p=0.015). There was no significant difference between IOP, MD, BP, HR and MOPP between the POAG with and without DH groups. Also, there was no significant relationship between age or MD index of automated static perimetry with venous TRBF for the POAG with, and without DH group. Conclusions:Venous TRBF was significantly lower in the POAG with DH group compared to both the POAG without DH group and the contralateral eye of the POAG with DH group. There was no within eye asymmetry when comparing SRBF and IRBF either with or without DH, or when comparing the hemifield with DH to that without