Chronopoetics: Race, Time, and Narrative in Carlos Bulosan’s 'America Is in the Heart'

The essay examines the politics and poetics of time—specifically, the relationship between race, time, and narrative in Carlos Bulosan’s semi-autobiographical work America Is in the Heart. Through a reading of this text, I pursue both a more generalized discussion of the relationship between time and narrative (in the writing of both fiction and history) and the more specific ways in which processes of racialization inflect or rearticulate that relationship. At issue here is the formal challenge, or problem, of representing difference. How does reflecting on temporality tell us something about the limits and possibilities of representational forms? How, for example, has an historical repertoire of temporal constructions of racial otherness (predicated on a discourse of )evolutionary hierarchies) come to bear formally or ideologically on developmental narratives of subject formation

Dangerous discourses and uncomfortable silences

In this paper, two teacher educators, a Latino man and an Asian American woman, reflect on their experiences in their graduate teacher-education classes after a controversial book talk and lecture about racism in higher education took place at one of the most diverse institutions of higher learning in the United States. Using critical race and dialogic frameworks, they analyze issues of race, power, and White privilege in academia and probe the reasons why, despite efforts to incorporate multicultural training in teacher education programs, discussing race can be an uncomfortable, threatening, and even cathartic experience to participants

Deep Understandings and Thick Descriptions: Tackling Questions about Race

In this article, three professors of color speak out in response to the continuation of White police killings of Black people in the United States. We contend that there is a strong need for everyone, professors and educators in particular, to be proactive in confronting racism by tackling not avoiding, difficult questions and conversations. We propose that through the enactment of deep understandings and thick descriptions in our classrooms at all levels we may encourage a critical humanitarian response to the challenges of not knowing the diverse “Other.” We present real experiences from our teaching to illustrate the kinds of activities that can be done to engage our students in developing thick descriptions and deep understandings of diverse Others. When we all participate in the development of deep understandings and thick descriptions, maybe the killings and misperceptions will cease and we will think first before making devastating and destructive actions, statements and assumptions about “Others” because we truly recognize our shared humanit

Hall Mobility Measurements and Chemical Stability of Ultrathin, Methylated Si(111)-on-Insulator Films

The chemical and electronic properties of 10−20 nm thick, methylated Si(111)-on-insulator (CH_3/Si(111)_(SOI)) thin films, prepared using a wet chemical chlorination/methylation procedure, are investigated. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals that CH_3/Si(111)_(SOI) is resistant to oxidation upon exposure to air and to various device fabrication schemes and associated chemicals. Temperature-dependent Hall mobility measurements yield results that are dependent upon the duration of the chlorination step. For short-time chlorination steps, bulklike mobilities are observed, and the dominant scattering mechanism arises from ionized impurities. For longer time chlorination steps, surface roughness or neutral impurity scattering limit the carrier mobilities

Interdisciplinary undergraduate learning modules in gerontechnology

As the older population grows rapidly worldwide, gerontechnology can play an increasingly crucial role in improving older people’s quality of life in an affordable and sustainable way. However, even with growing interests, gerontechnology has yet to be established as a widely available educational or research program. One root cause is the lack of a well-established curriculum to train new gerontechnologists and to help professionals in relevant fields to develop gerontechnological specialties. This paper summarizes our experience and insights gained from designing, instructing, and evaluating learning modules for gerontechnology in the past 2½ years, and outlines the learning materials and effective pedagogies for gerontechnology that can be adopted and further developed

Angina at Low heart rate And Risk of imminent Myocardial infarction (the ALARM study): a prospective, observational proof-of-concept study

BACKGROUND: Myocardial infarction (MI) is often preceded by unstable angina. Helping patients identify the onset of unstable angina rather than MI may result in earlier treatment and improve outcomes. Unstable angina is angina occurring at a lower-than-usual workload. Since heart rate (HR) is correlated with degree of exertion, we hypothesised that angina occurring at low HR is a warning signal for unstable angina and MI. METHODS: In this prospective study, 111 patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or prognostically significant coronary disease were recruited. Each patient’s HR was measured using a portable electrocardiogram (ECG) recorder after regular class III exercise on the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Angina Grading Scale and the cumulative moving average and three-sigma (standard deviation) range were calculated for each new measurement. The HR was subsequently measured at the beginning of angina; a HR lower than the preceding three-sigma ranges for class III or anginal HR was regarded as a ‘warning signal’. The proportion of warning signals associated with ACS occurring in the following 2 weeks was compared with that for non-warning signals. RESULTS: Nine cases of ACS occurred in eight patients. Two cases were preceded by warning signals; a signal marked the onset of ACS in a third patient, and four patients failed to make anginal ECG recordings. There were 591 documented episodes of angina during the study and ECGs were available for 383 (64.8 %) of these of which 55 were warning signals. Of these warning signals, 4 occurred in the 2 weeks preceding ACS, compared with 4 of 328 non-warning signals (odds ratio, 6.4; 95 % confidence interval, 1.5–26.2; p = 0.01; positive predictive value, 7.3 %; negative predictive value, 98.8 %). CONCLUSIONS: Low HR angina may identify unstable angina and serve as an early warning for MI. In addition, angina that does not occur at a low heart rate indicates that ACS is very unlikely

A Novel Interdisciplinary Course in Gerontechnology for Disseminating Computational Thinking

While specialized knowledge and skills are the hallmark of modern society, the size and complexity of contemporary problems often require cooperative effort to analyze and solve. Therefore, experiences with skills, methodologies, and tools for effective interdisciplinary collaboration and structured problem solving are vital for preparing students for future academic and professional success. Meanwhile, computational systems have permeated much of modern professional and personal life, making computational thinking an essential skill for members of modern society. However, formal training in these techniques is primarily limited to students within computer science, mathematics, management of information systems, and engineering. At Iowa State University, we have designed and offered an experimental course to develop undergraduate students’ abilities for interdisciplinary teamwork and to disseminate computational thinking skills to a broader range of students. This novel course was jointly designed and instructed by faculty from the Computer Science Department, Gerontology Program, and Graphic Design Program to incorporate diverse faculty expertise and pedagogical approaches. Students were required to interview real users to identify real-life problems, gather requirements, and assess candidate solutions, which necessitated communication both within the group and with technologically-disinclined users. In-class presentations and wiki-based project websites provided regular practice at disseminating domain expertise to larger interdisciplinary audiences. Workshops, group-based mentoring, peer learning, and guided discovery allowed non-CS majors to learn much more about computer programs and tools, and grading criteria held students individually accountable within their disciplines but also emphasized group collaboration

Sex recognition by odour and variation in the uropygial gland secretion in starlings

1. Although a growing body of evidence supports that olfaction based on chemical compounds emitted by birds may play a role in individual recognition, the possible role of chemical cues in sexual selection of birds has been only preliminarily studied.2. We investigated for the first time whether a passerine bird, the spotless starling Sturnus unicolor, was able to discriminate the sex of conspecifics by using olfactory cues and whether the size and secretion composition of the uropygial gland convey information on sex, age and reproductive status in this species.3. We performed a blind choice experiment during mating, and we found that starlings were able to discriminate the sex of conspecifics by using chemical cues alone. Both male and female starlings preferred male scents. Furthermore, the analysis of the chemical composition of the uropygial gland secretion by using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) revealed differences between sexes, ages and reproductive status.4. In conclusion, our study reveals for first time that a passerine species can discriminate the sex of conspecifics by relying on chemical cues and suggests that the uropygial gland secretion may potentially function as a chemical signal used in mate choice and/or intrasexual competition in this species.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science ⁄ FEDER (CGL2008-00718) and PIE 200930I029 to J. M. Avilés and D. Parejo.The study was conducted under licence of the Junta de Andalucía GC–MS analyses were performed by Dr. Rafael Núñez at the Scientific Instrumentation Service (EEZ, CSIC) (Granada, Spain).Peer reviewe

The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: latest science cases and simulations

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) first light instrument IRIS (Infrared Imaging Spectrograph) will complete its preliminary design phase in 2016. The IRIS instrument design includes a near-infrared (0.85 - 2.4 micron) integral field spectrograph (IFS) and imager that are able to conduct simultaneous diffraction-limited observations behind the advanced adaptive optics system NFIRAOS. The IRIS science cases have continued to be developed and new science studies have been investigated to aid in technical performance and design requirements. In this development phase, the IRIS science team has paid particular attention to the selection of filters, gratings, sensitivities of the entire system, and science cases that will benefit from the parallel mode of the IFS and imaging camera. We present new science cases for IRIS using the latest end-to-end data simulator on the following topics: Solar System bodies, the Galactic center, active galactic nuclei (AGN), and distant gravitationally-lensed galaxies. We then briefly discuss the necessity of an advanced data management system and data reduction pipeline.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, SPIE (2016) 9909-0