The Effectiveness of LCC in Art Libraries: A Proposal for a User-based Study

While the Library of Congress Classification system (LCC) has been widely accepted and found to work well for general collections, it appears less effective in the context of contemporary art libraries

Constitutional Chaos: The Shadow Campaigns Aiming to Unravel Our Freedom

This report is an update to the 2016 Common Cause report The Dangerous Path: Big Money's Plan to Shred the Constitution, examining the dangerous efforts by secretive, well-funded special interest groups to push state legislatures around the nation to call for a constitutional convention through a little-known provision in Article V of the U.S. Constitution.A federal constitutional convention was last held in 1787 when the Constitution itself was drafted. Since then, the U.S. Constitution has been amended 27 times through the first of two processes described in Article V: Congress by two-thirds majorities of both the House and Senate passes the amendment, which must then be approved (i.e., ratified) by three fourths of the state legislatures. The second, never used path to amend the Constitution laid out in Article V is for two-thirds of the state legislatures (34) to pass resolutions applying for a new constitutional convention to propose amendments and then send those amendments to the states for ratification (i.e., an Article V convention).Common Cause co-leads the national Defend Our Constitution coalition, which seeks to stop an Article V convention from being called in order to protect all Americans' constitutional rights and civil liberties that would be threatened by such a convention. Holding such a convention runs the very high risk of being taken over by highly polarized politicians and wealthy special interests seeking to cripple federal powers and roll back our rights. At a time when disinformation is running rampant and deliberately being disseminated through various channels, a constitutional convention could be absolutely devastating to our rights and liberties.This report aims to examine the pro-convention campaigns and who is behind them, and to shed light on the immense dangers of what would happen should these efforts succeed. It will also make the case that a convention could easily exceed any narrow mandate—e.g., a balanced budget amendment (BBA)—and instead undertake a wholesale and highly divisive rewrite of our nation's charter.

Supporting rich and meaningful interaction in language teaching for revitalization: Lessons from Macuiltianguis Zapotec

Many language revitalization programs aimed at teaching Indigenous languages are small, informal efforts with limited time and resources. Even in communities that still have proficient speakers, students in revitalization programs often struggle to gain proficiency in the language. This paper offers an illustration of how one language revitalization program has tried to make teaching more effective by adapting commu-nicative language teaching strategies to be more useful and appropriate for their particular context. Having gained empirical support in the field of second language acquisition (SLA), communicative language teaching emphasizes the importance of rich and meaningful interaction for language learning to take place. “Rich” refers to the availability of target-like input that is not oversimplified. “Meaningful” refers to the type of interaction that takes place in real-life situations that necessitate communi-cation. However, existing research on these topics has largely ignored language revi-talization contexts, where providing learners with rich and meaningful interaction can be particularly challenging. This paper presents strategies for promoting rich and meaningful interaction in instructed language revitalization settings, as demonstrated through teacher practices at a Zapotec revitalization program in San Pablo Macuiltian-guis, Oaxaca, Mexico. The focus is on shifting from Spanish language use to Zapotec language use in specific, everyday social spaces, then supporting interaction within these spaces.National Foreign Language Resource Cente

Sediment surface effects on methane and natural gas hydrate formation and dissociation

The effects of sediment surfaces on methane hydrate formation and dissociation were investigated using colloidal suspensions and new experimental methods developed for a large volume (72-L), temperature-controlled pressure vessel. Hydrates were formed by bubbling methane gas through test solutions at temperatures and pressures within the hydrate stability field. Hydrate formation was visually detected by the accumulation of hydrate-encrusted gas bubbles. To measure hydrate dissociation conditions, the pressure vessel was warmed while temperature was monitored within a zone of previously-formed hydrate-encrusted gas bubbles. Hydrate dissociation was indicated by a distinct plateau in temperature within the hydrate zone, at the same time that temperatures of the gas and liquid phases within the vessel continued to rise. The dissociation plateau appears to be a phenomenon that is unique to the large volume pressure vessel used for the experiments. In experiments where hydrates were formed in pure water, temperature and pressure conditions for the temperature plateau matched model-predicted values for hydrate stability in water, confirming the validity of this new method for measuring hydrate dissociation conditions. Formation and dissociation conditions were measured for methane hydrates in colloidal suspensions containing bentonite. Hydrate formation experiments indicated that the presence of 200 mg/L bentonite in water significantly decreased pressures required for hydrate formation relative to formation in pure water.On the other hand, hydrate dissociation conditions measured in 34 g/L bentonite, silica,and calcium carbonate suspensions and a humic acid suspension with a concentration ofIg/L did not differ significantly from that of water. Dissociation experiments in a 3.4%sodium chloride solution showed a 2 °C negative effect in hydrate stability. Dissociation Conditions in natural gas hydrates in a 34 g/L bentonite suspension matched model predictions of stability in pure water. These results are relevant to the origin and stability of natural gas hydrate deposits known to exist in deep permafrost and marine sediments,where the effects of sediment surfaces are largely unknown

Applying the Framework: Positive Youth Development and Restorative Practices

This article compares the framework of positive youth development and school connectedness with the practices of restorative measures applied to harm and rule violations in schools. Formal school discipline practices of in- and out-of-school suspension have the unintended outcomes of increases in maladaptive behaviors, with drawl or avoidance of school staff, stigma among peers and poor academic achievement, among others. Restorative practices provide accountability for harm, as well as the opportunity to guide youth in their development, regardless of their experience as an offender, victim or bystander. Stories illustrate the strengths of this approach. Recommendations for school and youth programs regarding restorative measures will include suggestions for future research and evaluation

Restrictions on Anosov subgroups of Sp(2n,R)

Let $n\in\mathbb{N}$ and let $\Theta \subset \{1,\dots,n\}$ be a non-empty subset. We prove that if $\Theta$ contains an odd integer, then any $P_\Theta$-Anosov subgroup of ${\rm Sp}(2n,\mathbb{R})$ is virtually isomorphic to a free group or a surface group. In particular, any Borel Anosov subgroup of ${\rm Sp}(2n,\mathbb{R})$ is virtually isomorphic to a free or surface group. On the other hand, if $\Theta$ does not contain any odd integers, then there exists a $P_\Theta$-Anosov subgroup of ${\rm Sp}(2n,\mathbb{R})$ which is not virtually isomorphic to a free or surface group. We also exhibit new examples of maximally antipodal subsets of certain flag manifolds; these arise as limit sets of rank $1$ subgroups.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur

Introduction

This chapter introduces the volume, Collaborative Approaches to the Challenge of Language Documentation and Conservation, providing a short justification for the volume, summarizing each of the eight chapters, and identifying major themes that emerge in the chapters.National Foreign Language Resource Cente