Federal policy and Alaska Native languages since 1867

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1998Researchers and the general public have often contended that punishment of children for speaking their native languages in schools is the cause of the decline of those languages. But native language loss in Alaska is rooted also in the choices Natives made themselves to accept English for its social, economic, and political opportunities. Since the United States purchased Alaska in 1867, English has replaced native languages as the first language learned by children in nearly all homes. Although none of Alaska's twenty native languages is yet extinct, most are at a point of peril as English has replaced a pattern of linguistic diversity that existed from time immemorial. This study documents the history of language decline and the role of federal government policy in that process. Congress extended federal policies to Alaska in 1884 when it established civil government in the territory. In 1885 the Bureau of Education assumed responsibility for running rural schools. Federal policy during that era grew out of America's desire for uniformity of culture, religion, and language, and as a result schools often forcibly suppressed Native American languages and punished students for speaking them. Yet Alaska Natives have been active participants in change, not passive victims of an overwhelming bureaucracy. The switch to English occurred as Natives responded to the influx of American population with its systems of economy, society, politics, and justice. Natives abandoned their old languages when they became convinced through pressures from the outside world that English held more prestige and advantage than their native languages. Government policies defined the choices that were available, and Natives adopted English for the opportunities it afforded them in a modern system that was not of their own making. Once families began using English as the language of the home and thus interrupted the continuity of native language use from one generation to the next, the decline of native languages was assured. Punishment of school children for speaking their native languages, along with American social, economic, and political systems, created an environment in which Alaska Natives made the constrained choice to adopt English as the language of the home and community

It\u27s Not About You

Al is currently Head of METTLER TOLEDO North America where he and his team are responsible for all sales, marketing, customer support, and filed service operations in the US and Canada. He joined METTLER TOLEDO in 2000 as the General Manger of the US Industrial Division Market Organizationhttps://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/leadhour/1020/thumbnail.jp

Beta particle energy spectra shift due to self-attenuation effects in environmental sources

In order to predict and control the environmental and health impacts of ionising radiation in environmental sources such as groundwater, it is necessary to identify the radionuclides present. Beta-emitting radionuclides are frequently identified by measuring their characteristic energy spectra. The present work shows that self-attenuation effects from volume sources result in a geometry-dependent shift in the characteristic spectra which needs to be taken into account in order to correctly identify the radionuclides present. These effects are shown to be compounded due to the subsequent shift in the photon spectra produced by the detector, in this case an inorganic solid scintillator (CaF2:Eu) monitored using a Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM). Using tritiated water as an environmentally relevant, and notoriously difficult to monitor case study, analytical predictions for the shift in the energy spectra as a function of depth of source have been derived. These predictions have been validated using Geant4 simulations and experimental results measured using bespoke instrumentation

Effects of insecticides and defoliants applied alone and in combination for control of overwintering boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis; Coleoptera: Curculionidae)—laboratory and field studies

In laboratory, greenhouse and field tests, we determined the effects of combining full rates of the defoliants tribufos and thidiazuron and the herbicide thifensulfuron-methyl with half rates of the insecticides lambda-cyhalothrin or azinphos-methyl, and the combination of tribufos and thidiazuron, both in half rates, on mortality of the boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman and on the quality of defoliation. Tribufos, 0.47 kg ha−1 and tribufos, 0.235 kg ha−1 + thidiazuron, 0.125 kg ha−1 exhibited a slightly toxic effect to boll weevil, while tribufos, 0.47 kg ha−1+ lambda − cyhalothrin, 0.019 kg ha−1, tribufos, 0.47 kg ha−1 + azinphos − methyl, 0.14 kg ha−1, and tribufos, 0.235 kg ha−1 + thidiazuron, 0.125 kg ha−1 + azinphos − methyl, 0.14 kg ha−1, provided control of boll weevil as good as or better than full-rate azinphos-methyl or lambda-cyhalothrin alone owing to synergistic effects. Thidiazuron or thifensulfuron-methyl alone or in combination with insecticides did not affect boll weevil mortality. Treatment with tribufos + thidiazuron, both at half rate, significantly increased defoliation compared to full rates of tribufos or thidiazuron alone, and provided adequate defoliation for approximately the same cost per hectar

The Opacity of Spiral Galaxy Disks V: dust opacity, HI distributions and sub-mm emission

The opacity of spiral galaxy disks, from counts of distant galaxies, is compared to HI column densities. The opacity measurements are calibrated using the ``Synthetic Field Method'' from Gonzalez et al (1998) and Holwerda et al. (2005a). When compared for individual disks, the HI column density and dust opacity do not seem to be correlated as HI and opacity follow different radial profiles. To improve statistics, an average radial opacity profile is compared to an average HI profile. Compared to dust-to-HI estimates from the literature, more extinction is found in this profile. This difference may be accounted for by an underestimate of the dust in earlier measurements due to their dependence on dust temperature. Since the SFM is insensitive to the dust temperature, the ratio between the SFM opacity and HI could very well be indicative of the true ratio. Earlier claims for a radially extended cold dust disk were based on sub-mm observations. A comparison between sub-mm observations and counts of distant galaxies is therefore desirable. We present the best current example of such a comparison, M51, for which the measurements seem to agree. However, this remains an area where improved counts of distant galaxies, sub-mm observations and our understanding of dust emissivity are needed.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, accepted by A&

StreamOnTheFly: a Peer-to-peer network for radio stations and podCasters

The StreamOnTheFly network demonstrates new ways of management and personalisation technologies for audio. The architecture is based on a decentralized network of software components using automatic metadata replication in a peer-to-peer manner. The network also promotes a new common metadata schema and content exchange format. Content reuse and content exchange is made possible by StreamOnTheFly in several use cases

Experimental Demonstration of Post-Selection based Continuous Variable Quantum Key Distribution in the Presence of Gaussian Noise

In realistic continuous variable quantum key distribution protocols, an eavesdropper may exploit the additional Gaussian noise generated during transmission to mask her presence. We present a theoretical framework for a post-selection based protocol which explicitly takes into account excess Gaussian noise. We derive a quantitative expression of the secret key rates based on the Levitin and Holevo bounds. We experimentally demonstrate that the post-selection based scheme is still secure against both individual and collective Gaussian attacks in the presence of this excess noise.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure