Social Transformation and Investment in Spanish Language Learning Through International Service Learning: A Case Study

In the current era of globalization, universities strive to internationalize their curriculum. One popular method, is the addition of an international service learning (ISL) component to the curriculum. ISL programs focused on language learning often aspire to encourage social transformation as well as language competence. While this option is gaining popularity and has been the object of some research, the role of language in universities’ internationalization process remains under-researched, as does the role of ISL as a tool for language learning. This dissertation examines a week long ISL program involving a Canadian-Cuban university partnership. It is guided by the following research questions: 1 - How do university students perceive and/or demonstrate any: shift in their identities increase in their investment in foreign language learning social transformation as a result of participation in an international service learning (ISL) program? 2 - Are any changes noted in 1a, 1b, and/or 1c maintained over time? To address these questions, I drew upon investment in language learning and identity, as well as transformative learning theories. This research involves a longitudinal, qualitative case study design. Triangulation was achieved through three data collection instruments: online questionnaires (pre- and post- travel), short informal interviews (pre-, post- travel, and longitudinal), and document analysis (pre- and post- travel reflective blogs, work logs, and personal travel journals). It involved various cohorts of students over a five-year period. The lived experience of the participants was a much messier entanglement than expected, given the prior literature. Longitudinal findings suggest that time further differentiated student experiences. Language fluency was identified as essential, and those with an increased investment in language learning cited a need for meaningful interactions. Participants who experienced a social transformation began examining their experience on a deeper level, others returned to Canada with reinforced negative stereotypes. Differences in participant experiences led to the creation of a unique heuristic called The Model for Dynamic Transformation and Investment in Language Learning (MDTILL), which combines concepts from both critical applied linguistics and transformational learning theory to demonstrate clearly the diverse ways students are (and are not) transformed through ISL experiences

International Service Learning: Catalyst for transformation in language learner identity?

An ever increasing number of North American universities offer International Service Learning (ISL) programs to meet the interests of civic minded students hoping to gain international experience and develop cultural awareness while, at the same time, “making a difference” to a community in need. While there is an abundance of anecdotal accounts to support the claims that combining study abroad experiences with service-learning pedagogy has great transformative learning potential, there is a lack of reliable evidence (Grusky, 2000). This paper will present the theoretical framework of the author’s doctoral research; a qualitative study exploring the link between cultural sensitivity and student investment in language acquisition by following Spanish language learners participating in a short term international service learning program. I focus on the transformation (Kiely, 2004) in students’ cultural sensitivity due to the interactions with host communities during the “service” portion of the ISL component and how this cultural awakening in turn transforms the students’ social identities and their investment in acquiring the target language (Norton, 1995).Grusky, S. (2000). International service learning: A critical guide from an impassioned advocate. American Behavioral Scientist, 43(5), 858-867.  Kiely, R. (2004). A Chameleon with a complex: Searching for transformation in international service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 10(2), 5-20.Norton Peirce, B. (1995). Social identity, investment, and language learning. TESOL Quarterly, 29(1), 9-31.

Selfie-Objectification: Does Taking One’s Own Picture Increase Levels of State Self-Objectification among College Females?

The current experiment investigated the effects of taking a selfie on self-objectification. In the experiment, 107 women either took 5 selfies, unlimited selfies, had 5 photos taken of them, or had no photos taken. Participants completed an Objectified Body Consciousness Scale and 10 “I am” statements, which were coded for self-objectification. Women in the unlimited selfie condition made more appearance-based self-statements than those whose photos were not taken

Synchronous vs Asynchronous Chain Motion in α-Synuclein Contact Dynamics

α-Synuclein (α-syn) is an intrinsically unstructured 140-residue neuronal protein of uncertain function that is implicated in the etiology of Parkinson’s disease. Tertiary contact formation rate constants in α-syn, determined from diffusion-limited electron-transfer kinetics measurements, are poorly approximated by simple random polymer theory. One source of the discrepancy between theory and experiment may be that interior-loop formation rates are not well approximated by end-to-end contact dynamics models. We have addressed this issue with Monte Carlo simulations to model asynchronous and synchronous motion of contacting sites in a random polymer. These simulations suggest that a dynamical drag effect may slow interior-loop formation rates by about a factor of 2 in comparison to end-to-end loops of comparable size. The additional deviations from random coil behavior in α-syn likely arise from clustering of hydrophobic residues in the disordered polypeptide

Appearance Wood Products and Psychological Well-Being

The study of how people's psychological health and well-being can be connected to wood used in appearance applications is a new and relatively unexplored area of inquiry, despite strong theoretical support, intuitive reasoning, and a growing recognition of the importance of healthful living. This research attempted to better understand this phenomenon by mapping out people's perceptions of wood used in interior applications. Specifically, the aim of this exploratory study was to determine what types of environments appearance wood products can create and to gauge whether or not the use of these types of products could have positive impacts on people's emotional states. To that end, a total of 119 respondents from the Greater Vancouver Regional Area were asked to partake in a three-part experimental study, consisting of a q-sort exercise, personal interviews, and a self-administered survey. The findings suggest that people's response to wood is, for the most part, extremely positive, with subjects generally showing a strong preference for rooms containing many wood details. There also appears to be a strong belief that the use of wood can help to create healthful environments, and commonly evoked descriptors for wood rooms include "warm," "comfortable," "relaxing," "natural," and "inviting." The reasons underlying these findings are complex and further exploration rooted in the field of environmental psychology is warranted. However, the results of this study could have potentially far-reaching implications for manufacturers of appearance wood products seeking to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Specifically, these findings point to an opportunity to market wood in an entirely new and innovative manner with the inclusion of potential psychological benefits into the total product concept

Effects of Body Shape on Literal Objectification: When Ideal May Be Less Than Ideal

Objectification, or the tendency to adopt an externalized view of self/other, is a ubiquitous process disproportionately affecting women (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Recent work has examined literal objectification, defined as “any outcome in which a person is perceived as, or behaves, objectlike, relative to humanlike” (Heflick & Goldenberg, 2014, p. 225). Focusing on women’s physical appearance heightens literal objectification, including reduced perceptions of warmth, competence, and morality (Heflick et al., 2011). We investigated whether participants’ ratings of literal objectification vary as a function of body type. Seventy-one college women (Mage = 19.23) viewed three photos of women, manipulated to depict low, average, and high ideal body shapes. Participants rated the degree to which each woman possessed competence, warmth and morality, and their desire to collaborate on a group project with them. Average images were rated as significantly higher on warmth, morality, and collaboration desirability than high ideal and low ideal images, and marginally more competent than high ideal images. High ideal images were rated as significantly lower on warmth and marginally lower on collaboration desirability than low ideal images. Future research should extend this work to evaluate behavioral manifestations of literal objectification and explore what other factors might moderate these effects

α-Synuclein Tertiary Contact Dynamics

Tertiary contact formation rates in α-synuclein, an intrinsically disordered polypeptide implicated in Parkinson's disease, have been determined from measurements of diffusion-limited electron-transfer kinetics between triplet-excited tryptophan:3-nitrotyrosine pairs separated by 10, 12, 55, and 90 residues. Calculations based on a Markovian lattice model developed to describe intrachain diffusion dynamics for a disordered polypeptide give contact quenching rates for various loop sizes ranging from 6 to 48 that are in reasonable agreement with experimentally determined values for small loops (10−20 residues). Contrary to expectations, measured contact rates in α-synuclein do not continue to decrease as the loop size increases (≥35 residues), and substantial deviations from calculated rates are found for the pairs W4−Y94, Y39−W94, and W4−Y136. The contact rates for these large loops indicate much shorter average donor−acceptor separations than expected for a random polymer

Identification of genes expressed by immune cells of the colon that are regulated by colorectal cancer-associated variants.

A locus on human chromosome 11q23 tagged by marker rs3802842 was associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) in a genome-wide association study; this finding has been replicated in case-control studies worldwide. In order to identify biologic factors at this locus that are related to the etiopathology of CRC, we used microarray-based target selection methods, coupled to next-generation sequencing, to study 103 kb at the 11q23 locus. We genotyped 369 putative variants from 1,030 patients with CRC (cases) and 1,061 individuals without CRC (controls) from the Ontario Familial Colorectal Cancer Registry. Two previously uncharacterized genes, COLCA1 and COLCA2, were found to be co-regulated genes that are transcribed from opposite strands. Expression levels of COLCA1 and COLCA2 transcripts correlate with rs3802842 genotypes. In colon tissues, COLCA1 co-localizes with crystalloid granules of eosinophils and granular organelles of mast cells, neutrophils, macrophages, dendritic cells and differentiated myeloid-derived cell lines. COLCA2 is present in the cytoplasm of normal epithelial, immune and other cell lineages, as well as tumor cells. Tissue microarray analysis demonstrates the association of rs3802842 with lymphocyte density in the lamina propria (p = 0.014) and levels of COLCA1 in the lamina propria (p = 0.00016) and COLCA2 (tumor cells, p = 0.0041 and lamina propria, p = 6 × 10(-5)). In conclusion, genetic, expression and immunohistochemical data implicate COLCA1 and COLCA2 in the pathogenesis of colon cancer. Histologic analyses indicate the involvement of immune pathways

Analyzing and Visualizing Uncertain Knowledge: The Use of TEI Annotations in the PROVIDEDH Open Science Platform

The underlying uncertainty in digital humanities research data affects decision-making and persists during a project’s lifecycle. This uncertainty is inevitable since most empirical claims cannot be assessed against an absolute truth (Drucker 2011; Binder et al. 2014). This situation has been previously recognized together with the need to report the degrees of uncertainty that accompany such claims (Blau 2011). Although TEI makes it possible to annotate text with notions of certainty or precision, examples of actual projects taking advantage of this are scarce. There are many possible explanations for uncertainty’s lack of visibility in computationally supported humanities research; among them, the need for tools specifically designed to address the goal of defining and managing uncertainty stands out. Thus, efforts to provide technical support for humanities research should focus on managing and making uncertainty more transparent, rather than removing it. Another challenge is the fact that there is no agreement on a generic taxonomy for the different types of uncertainty that researchers may face. Various researchers across disciplines, working on varying projects and data sets, can use different categories to classify the uncertainties present in a particular case. In this paper, we introduce a collaborative platform for collective annotation of TEI data sets. We briefly present the flexible taxonomy of uncertainty used in the platform and describe two data sets used for its testing. Then we describe use cases of annotations available on the platform, and how they translate into TEI annotations. Creating and interpreting annotations with and without uncertainty should now be easier, especially for researchers who do not know TEI markup

Male Choice in the Stream-Anadromous Stickleback Complex

Studies of mating preferences and pre-mating reproductive isolation have often focused on females, but the potential importance of male preferences is increasingly appreciated. We investigated male behavior in the context of reproductive isolation between divergent anadromous and stream-resident populations of threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, using size-manipulated females of both ecotypes. Specifically, we asked if male courtship preferences are present, and if they are based on relative body size, non-size aspects of ecotype, or other traits. Because male behaviors were correlated with each other, we conducted a principal components analysis on the correlations and ran subsequent analyses on the principal components. The two male ecotypes differed in overall behavioral frequencies, with stream-resident males exhibiting consistently more vigorous and positive courtship than anadromous males, and an otherwise aggressive behavior playing a more positive role in anadromous than stream-resident courtship. We observed more vigorous courtship toward smaller females by (relatively small) stream-resident males and the reverse pattern for (relatively large) anadromous males. Thus size-assortative male courtship preferences may contribute to reproductive isolation in this system, although preferences are far from absolute. We found little indication of males responding preferentially to females of their own ecotype independent of body size