Deafness: Disability or Culture? Best Practices Regarding Controversial Interventions for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

Background: Many people in the deaf community view deafness as a distinct culture, with its own unique language and history. They reject the use of assistive technologies which can restore hearing for themselves and their children. However, some members of the medical and legal communities consider it unethical to deprive a child of these interventions. Learn more about this emerging conflict, as well as best practices for working with deaf and hard of hearing students in a school environment. Methods: Peer-reviewed journals and popular publications were consulted to gather information about attitudes towards interventions such as the cochlear implant from members of the deaf community, as well the legal and medical communities. Education journals were consulted to gather information about best practices when working with deaf and hard of hearing students. Results: There are strong opinions on both sides of this issue, with various arguments being made both for and against the use of interventions like the cochlear implant. From the perspective of K-12 educators and school counselors, making sure that students feel safe and supported at school. Conclusions: It is not necessary for K-12 educators and school counselors to have opinions on specific assistive technologies. It is important for them to be aware of best practices for working with deaf and hard of hearing students, and to support and respect the decisions of deaf families with regards to their culture.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1117/thumbnail.jp

The development of medical and biological semiconductor detectors eighth quarterly pro- gress report

Medical and biological semiconductor detectors for manned space flight mission

Captivating Malaeska: Reading The First Dime Novel As A Captivity Narrative

Regardless of the genre under which Malaeska was marketed, the cross-genre tropes and lessons can be seen which mark the novel as one that has been influenced by captivity narratives. Perhaps more so because of the subtle way it has been integrated into popular culture, the heritage of the Native American captivity tale remains even after physical Indian captivity has ceased, providing readers with a multilayered reading which asks them to think about the events of the time in which the story was written as well as the time in which the story is set, while critiquing the white supremacist standard that the Native American is the Other, and should be considered threatening or frightening, a being without equal rights simply because of cultural or racial differences. Far from being a footnote of American literature, Malaeska is a novel that forces the reader to engage in varied conversations with history and literature, from what was happening in the United States to what the author was reading that influenced how they wrote about the world

The Agency of Art Objects in Northern Europe, 1380–1520

This monograph book offers a new interpretation of northern European art of the fifteenth century. The author presents it as a conglomerate of objects-things which act on the recipient in a specific – material and spatial – way. He analyzes macro-scale objects that impose movement on the viewer, and micro-scale objects that encourage manipulation. Inspired by the anti-anthropocentric concept of “returning to things” (B. Latour, A. Gell and others), the author searches for the “agency of things” in late-medieval art objects, which evoke specific liturgical, devotional, propaganda-political behaviors, or establish the status of social owner of the object that once co-created the network of material and spiritual culture. This methodologically innovative approach is part of the latest research in early art in Western Europe and the United States

Parimutuel betting markets: racetracks and lotteries revisited

This paper surveys the state of the art in research in racetrack and lottery markets. Market efficiency and the pricing of various wagers is studied along with new developments since the Thaler and Ziemba JEP review. Other sports betting markets are also discussed. The role of syndicates, betting exchange rebates, behavioral biases and fundamental information is discussed

A response to Professor Paul A. Samuelson's objections to Kelly capital growth investing

The Kelly Capital Growth Investment Strategy maximizes the expected utility of final wealth with a Bernoulli logarithmic utility function. In 1956 Kelly showed that static expected log maximization yields the maximum asymptotic long run growth. Good properties include minimizing the time to large asymptotic goals, maximizing the median, and being ahead on average after the first period. Bad properties include extremely large bets for short term favorable investment situations because the Arrow-Pratt risk aversion index is essentially zero. Paul Samuelson was a critic of this approach and I discuss his various points sent in letters he sent me and papers reprinted in MacLean, Thorp and Ziemba (2011). Samuelson's criticism is partially responsible for the current situation that most finance academics and professionals do not recommend Kelly strategies. I was asked to explain this to Fidelity Investments, a major Boston investment firm influenced by Samuelson at MIT. Should they be using Kelly and safer fractional Kelly strategies which blend cash with the full Kelly strategy? The points of Samuelson are theoretically correct and sharpen the theory. They caution users of this approach to be careful and understand the true characteristics of these investments including ways to lower the investment exposure. Samuelson's objections help us understand the theory better, but they do not detract from numerous valuable applications

Regulation of Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy by PI3K Signaling

HonorsUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162683/1/zjohnzie.pd

Bromide and other ions in the snow, firn air, and atmospheric boundary layer at Summit during GSHOX

Measurements of gas phase soluble bromide in the boundary layer and in firn air, and Br− in aerosol and snow, were made at Summit, Greenland (72.5° N, 38.4° W, 3200 m a.s.l.) as part of a larger investigation into the influence of Br chemistry on HOx cycling. The soluble bromide measurements confirm that photochemical activation of Br− in the snow causes release of active Br to the overlying air despite trace concentrations of Br− in the snow (means 15 and 8 nmol Br− kg−1 of snow in 2007 and 2008, respectively). Mixing ratios of soluble bromide above the snow were also found to be very small (mean \u3c1 ppt both years, with maxima of 3 and 4 ppt in 2007 and 2008, respectively), but these levels clearly oxidize and deposit long-lived gaseous elemental mercury and may perturb HOx partitioning. Concentrations of Br− in surface snow tended to increase/decrease in parallel with the specific activities of the aerosol-associated radionuclides 7Be and 210Pb. Earlier work has shown that ventilation of the boundary layer causes simultaneous increases in 7Be and 210Pb at Summit, suggesting there is a pool of Br in the free troposphere above Summit in summer time. Speciation and the source of this free tropospheric Br− are not well constrained, but we suggest it may be linked to extensive regions of active Br chemistry in the Arctic basin which are known to cause ozone and mercury depletion events shortly after polar sunrise. If this hypothesis is correct, it implies persistence of the free troposphere Br− for several months after peak Br activation in March/April. Alternatively, there may be a ubiquitous pool of Br− in the free troposphere, sustained by currently unknown sources and processes

INVASIVE ASIAN EARTHWORMS NEGATIVELY IMPACT WOODLAND SALAMANDERS: COMPETITIVE EXCLUSION, FORAGING INTERFERENCE, AND HABITAT DEGRADATION REDUCE SALAMANDER DENSITY

Asian earthworms (Amynthas spp.) are invading North American forests and consuming the vital detrital layer that forest floor biota (including the Eastern Red-backed Salamander, Plethodon cinereus) rely on for protection, food, and habitat. Salamander population decline has been associated with European earthworm-mediated leaf litter loss, but there have been few studies on the interactions between Amynthas spp. and P. cinereus. Since the large, active Amynthas spp. earthworms spatially overlap with salamanders beneath natural cover objects and in detritus, they may compound the negative consequences of resource degradation by physically disturbing important salamander activities (foraging, mating, and egg brooding). I predicted that Amynthas spp. would exclude salamanders from high quality microhabitat, reduce foraging efficiency, and negatively affect salamander fitness. In laboratory trials, salamanders used lower quality microhabitat and consumed fewer flies in the presence of earthworms than when alone. In a natural field experiment conducted on salamander populations from “non-invaded” and “Amynthas-invaded” sites in Ohio, salamanders and Amynthas spp. shared cover objects ~60% less than expected. However, there was no effect of Amynthas spp. invasion on salamander body condition. Amynthas spp. density was negatively associated with juvenile and male salamander density, but had no relationship with female salamander density. Juvenile and non-resident male salamanders do not hold stable territories, which results in reduced access to prey and a higher risk of desiccation. 2 Degraded leaf litter layers in Amynthas-invaded forests may uniquely challenge juvenile and male salamanders, exposing them to increased risk of desiccation, predation, and starvation as they search for suitable, unoccupied surface microhabitat. If habitat degradation and physical exclusion of salamanders from cover objects reduce juvenile and male salamander performance, then recruitment and ultimately salamander abundance may decline following Amynthas spp. invasion