Rapikwenty: ‘A loner in the ashes’ and other songs for sleeping

Rapikwenty is a traditional Australian Indigenous set of stories-and-songs from the Utopia region of Central Australia performed by Anmatyerr speaking adults to lull children to sleep. The main protagonist is a boy who is left to play alone in the ashes. Like many lullabies, Rapikwenty is characterised by scary themes, soft dynamics, a limited pitch range and repetition. The story-and-song form is not common in the Australian literature on lullabies, yet such combinations of prose and verse are found in other forms of verbal art of the region (Green 2014). This verbal art style is also well-attested in other oral traditions of the world (Harris & Reichl, 1997). Rapikwenty resembles other Anmatyerr genres in its song structure; yet differs in its performance style. Echoing Trainor et al. (1999: 532), we find it is the “soothing, smooth, and airy” delivery, rather than any formal properties of the genre, that achieves the lulling effect. In addition, Rapikwenty uses the recitative style known as arnwerirrem ‘humming’. The voice thus moves seamlessly between spoken story and sung verse, creating a smooth delivery throughout. We suggest that the combination of prose and verse reflects an Anmatyerr concept of song as prototypically punctuating events in a story rather than a medium for story-telling itself. This article suggests a more nuanced approach to the relationship between genre and performance styles. NOTE. The pdf version of this paper contains sound files, which may not work if you open the pdf in the browser. If this is the case, please download the pdf and open it from your computer

Building partnerships for linking biomedical science with traditional knowledge of customary medicines: a case study with two Australian Indigenous communities

Background: Customary medicine of Australia's Indigenous peoples draws upon knowledge developed through millennia of interaction with Australia's unique flora and fauna. Many Indigenous Australians are interested in developing modern medicinal and commercial translations of traditional knowledge; however, barriers of trust and benefit sharing often thwart progress. Methods: Using a participatory action research framework, university researchers collaborated with members of two Australian Indigenous communities to investigate selected medicinal plants and locally made bush products. A trusted community liaison facilitated the collaboration that was fostered through bilateral site visits. Material transfer and confidentiality agreements ensured that the plant materials were only used for the agreed purpose. Plain language written reports of the laboratory results were provided to the communities with follow up discussions. Results: In case study 1, only some of the traditional uses for the raw plants were shared with the researchers. Deidentified plants were assessed for antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. In case study 2, the plant names, traditional uses, and preparation methods were shared with the aim of learning more about their plants, potential uses, and optimising their bush products. Literature reviews were conducted that also helped guide in vitro testing of the crude and solvent partitioned extracts. These differences reflected the community's reasons for conducting the research and intellectual property considerations. In both cases, observed benefits included building trust and strengthening working relationships for ongoing collaboration, fostering enthusiasm for linking traditional and scientific knowledge, promoting cross-cultural learning about scientific methods and traditional medicine, maintaining the relevance of traditional knowledge in the modern world, and initiating community discussions around their bush medicine product development. Conclusions: Community-driven scientific investigation of traditional medicinal knowledge can facilitate culturally meaningful outcomes, with potentially wide-reaching direct and indirect benefits. Community liaisons were invaluable for establishment of strong relationships and ensured that the research was culturally and locally appropriate. The need for clearer guidelines and regulation around community-driven biomedical research of their plants was identified. Australia would benefit from a user-friendly, open-source toolkit that promotes use of local traditional medicines, contains information about processes and protocols that communities and scientists could use to develop collaborative projects, and guides regulation and ethical commercialisation. Close consultation and collaboration with communities and researchers will be needed to ensure that such a toolkit is culturally appropriate and fit-for-purpose

Developing a Culturally Proficient Intervention for Young African American Men in Drug Court: Examining Feasibility and Estimating an Effect Size for Habilitation Empowerment Accountability Therapy (HEAT)

African American males between 18 and 29 years of age are substantially less likely than many other participants to graduate successfully from drug court. Unsuccessful termination from drug court can have serious repercussions for these young men, including possible incarceration and negative collateral consequences associated with having a criminal record. This article reports preliminary results from two pilot studies that examined the feasibility of implementing a culturally proficient intervention for young African American men in drug court, and estimated an effect size for the intervention in improving treatment retention and reducing termination rates. Results confirmed that participants with serious criminal and substance use histories were willing and able to complete the lengthy 9-month curriculum, were satisfied with the intervention, and graduated from drug court at substantially higher rates than are commonly observed in this at-risk population. A sufficient basis has been established to justify the effort and expense of examining this intervention — Habilitation Empowerment Accountability Therapy (HEAT) — in fully powered randomized controlled trials

Exclusion from the Golgi and very low levels of HTLV-2 Tax ubiquitination do not prevent IKK-gamma/NEMO relocalization and NF-κB activation

International audiencen.

Low levels of HTLV-2 Tax conjugation to ubiquitin and SUMO do not impede Tax-mediated activation of NF-κB

International audienc

Controlling the polarization and vortex charge of attosecond high-harmonic beams via simultaneous spin–orbit momentum conservation

[EN]Optical interactions are governed by both spin and angular momentum conservation laws, which serve as a tool for controlling light–matter interactions or elucidating electron dynamics and structure of complex systems. Here, we uncover a form of simultaneous spin and orbital angular momentum conservation and show, theoretically and experimentally, that this phenomenon allows for unprecedented control over the divergence and polarization of extreme-ultraviolet vortex beams. High harmonics with spin and orbital angular momenta are produced, opening a novel regime of angular momentum conservation that allows for manipulation of the polarization of attosecond pulses—from linear to circular—and for the generation of circularly polarized vortices with tailored orbital angular momentum, including harmonic vortices with the same topological charge as the driving laser beam. Our work paves the way to ultrafast studies of chiral systems using high-harmonic beams with designer spin and orbital angular momentum.The authors are thankful for useful and productive conversations with E. Pisanty, C. Durfee, D. Hickstein, S. Alperin and M. Siemens. H.C.K. and M.M.M. graciously acknowledge support from the Department of Energy BES Award No. DE-FG02–99ER14982 for the experimental implementation, as well as a MURI grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under Award No. FA9550–16–1–0121 for the theory. J.L.E., N.J.B. and Q.L.N. acknowledge support from National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships (Grant No. DGE-1144083). C.H.-G., J.S.R. and L.P. acknowledge support from Junta de Castilla y León (SA046U16) and Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (FIS2013–44174-P, FIS2016–75652-P). C.H.-G. acknowledges support from a 2017 Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators, BBVA Foundation. L.R. acknowledges support from Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (FPU16/02591). A.P. acknowledges support from the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant, Agreement No. 702565. We thankfully acknowledge the computer resources at MareNostrum and the technical support provided by Barcelona Supercomputing Center (RES-AECT-2014–2–0085). This research made use of the high-performance computingresources of the Castilla y León Supercomputing Center (SCAYLE, www.scayle.es),financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Certain commercial instruments are identified to specify the experimental study adequately. This does not imply endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) or that the instruments are the best available for the purpose

If you go down to the soak today: symbolism and structure in an Arandic children’s story

In an Aboriginal children’s story from Central Australia, small creatures such as dragon lizards and ground-dwelling insect larvae known as ant lions convey rich symbolic meanings. This article a nalyzes the story, song,and graphic schema of a story that reinforces the dangers of being alone and the unpredictable incarnations of malevolent characters. By comparing versions in several Arandic languages, we elucidate the network of social l and culturalmeanings of the story and the poetic and artistic devices used to express them. We suggest that formalized children’s “play” routines such as th is story performan important role in socialization in Arandic society

Rethinking Peace

With the development of the atomic bomb, Albert Einstein remarked that everything had changed except our thinking about the world. Einstein and Bertrand Russell warned us that we have to learn to think in a new way. . . . shall we put an end to the human race; or shall we renounce war? Unfortunately, we are facing the end of this century still in the midst of wars of various motivations. In response, the editors of Rethinking Peace have compiled a collection of essays designed to encourage readers to think differently about the world and the prospects for peace. Based on rigorous scholarly work, these essays nevertheless have been written to be read by students—to make important points in a short space, and in plain English. With an emphasis on new thinking and positive strategies for developing a more peaceful world, the authors explore why conventional politics and generations of peace movements have not quelled our fascination with militarism; how we got to where we are now; the kind of thinking that keeps leading us to war; and how we can fundamentally change our thinking so that a peaceful future is more than simply a pipedream. The forty-five articles—fresh, timely, diverse, and controversial—are sure to provoke meaningful discussion and debate.https://repository.usfca.edu/faculty_books_all/1092/thumbnail.jp