Using a class wiki to facilitate community and linguistic inclusivity

I describe the implementation of a class wiki in an introductory linguistics class. There were two pedagogical goals: (1) facilitate asynchronous student engagement and collaborative learning; (2) provide opportunities for students to engage with various linguistic issues having to do with justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Assessment for the wiki was done using a version of specifications grading (Nilson 2015), so that students could choose their level of engagement with the wiki. A full description of the wiki is available at https://cbjorndahl.github.io/CMUNoLWiki/, which includes detailed descriptions, learning objectives, and prompts given to students for each wiki category. The present paper focusses primarily on the pedagogical motivations, design of the pedagogical intervention, and a reflection of its effectiveness

Standards in semen examination:publishing reproducible and reliable data based on high-quality methodology

Biomedical science is rapidly developing in terms of more transparency, openness and reproducibility of scientific publications. This is even more important for all studies that are based on results from basic semen examination. Recently two concordant documents have been published: the 6th edition of the WHO Laboratory Manual for the Examination and Processing of Human Semen, and the International Standard ISO 23162:2021. With these tools, we propose that authors should be instructed to follow these laboratory methods in order to publish studies in peer-reviewed journals, preferable by using a checklist as suggested in an Appendix to this article.Peer reviewe

Multidimensional signals and analytic flexibility: Estimating degrees of freedom in human speech analyses

Recent empirical studies have highlighted the large degree of analytic flexibility in data analysis which can lead to substantially different conclusions based on the same data set. Thus, researchers have expressed their concerns that these researcher degrees of freedom might facilitate bias and can lead to claims that do not stand the test of time. Even greater flexibility is to be expected in fields in which the primary data lend themselves to a variety of possible operationalizations. The multidimensional, temporally extended nature of speech constitutes an ideal testing ground for assessing the variability in analytic approaches, which derives not only from aspects of statistical modeling, but also from decisions regarding the quantification of the measured behavior. In the present study, we gave the same speech production data set to 46 teams of researchers and asked them to answer the same research question, resulting insubstantial variability in reported effect sizes and their interpretation. Using Bayesian meta-analytic tools, we further find little to no evidence that the observed variability can be explained by analysts’ prior beliefs, expertise or the perceived quality of their analyses. In light of this idiosyncratic variability, we recommend that researchers more transparently share details of their analysis, strengthen the link between theoretical construct and quantitative system and calibrate their (un)certainty in their conclusions

A Story of /v/: Voiced Spirants in the Obstruent-Sonorant Divide

The patterning of /v/ in Russian and other languages has long posed a problem for phonological theory because of its ambiguous classification with respect to the feature [sonorant]: like obstruents, /v/ participates as a target of final devoicing and regressive voicing assimilation, but like sonorants, fails to trigger regressive voicing assimilation. In this dissertation I tackle the problem of Russian /v/ by situating it in a broader cross-linguistic landscape, in terms of its acoustic properties, its relationship to other non-sibilant voiced fricatives, or voiced spirants /β, ð, ɣ/, and its phonological typology. The empirical results of the dissertation challenge the binary division between obstruents and sonorants, and suggest that a finer distinction is required. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 focus on the phonetic characteristics of /v/. Chapter 2 investigates the relationship between voicing and frication type in four languages—English, Greek, Serbian, and Russian—using measures that distinguish between voicing and frication type: duration, harmonicity, and spectral centroid. Two environments, word-initial stressed and word-medial unstressed, are used in order to assess the effect of word-internal prosodic factors. I argue based on these results that although /v/ has the highest harmonicity in each language, the relationship between voicing and frication type is revealed by spectral centroid, and that the relationship is independent in English and Greek, but not in Serbian; in Russian the results depend on environment. Chapter 3 tests whether there exists a correlation between phonological and phonetic identity, using Greek, in which /v/ patterns as an obstruent, Serbian, in which /v/ patterns as a sonorant, and Russian, in which /v/ is ambiguous. A partial correlation between phonetic and phonological identity was found, with the relativized centroid values for Greek and Serbian /v/ being distinguished in both environments. Russian and Greek do not differ significantly in the WIS environment, while Russian and Serbian do not differ significantly in the WMU environment. Chapter 4 turns to investigating the distribution in consonant inventories and implicational relations of voicing in spirants and sibilants. The results of this investigation show that voiced spirants and voiced sibilants do not share the same cross-linguistic distribution: voiced spirants frequently surface in small inventories, but only if unpaired, while the correlation between the presence of voiced sibilants (which only occur with a voiceless counterpart) and inventory size is linear. Voiced spirants also tend to appear in inventories without a voicing contrast in the stops, unlike voiced sibilants. Chapter 5 argues that Russian /v/ is featurally specified as [+sonorant, +obstruent], and that regressive voicing assimilation is inherently asymmetric: all segments that are [+obstruent] are targets of devoicing under regressive voicing assimilation and final devoicing, but only segments that are exclusively obstruents trigger RVA. A typology of phonological patterning of /v/ under [obstruent] and [sonorant] is proposed. Chapter 6 considers the quantal nature of [obstruent] and [sonorant], and sketches a model that combines Quantal Theory (Stevens, 1989) and Emergent Feature Theory (Mielke, 2008). It is argued that by expanding the set of quantal domains, both clear cases of feature assignment and ambiguous cases can be understood within the same framework

Blood vessel maturation and response to vascular-disrupting therapy in single vascular endothelial growth factor-A isoform-producing tumors

Tubulin-binding vascular-disrupting agents (VDA) are currently in clinical trials for cancer therapy but the factors that influence tumor susceptibility to these agents are poorly understood. We evaluated the consequences of modifying tumor vascular morphology and function on vascular and therapeutic response to combretastatin-A4 3-O-phosphate (CA-4-P), which was chosen as a model VDA. Mouse fibrosarcoma cell lines that are capable of expressing all vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) isoforms (control) or only single isoforms of VEGF (VEGF120, VEGF164, or VEGF188) were developed under endogenous VEGF promoter control. Once tumors were established, VEGF isoform expression did not affect growth or blood flow rate. However, VEGF188 was uniquely associated with tumor vascular maturity, resistance to hemorrhage, and resistance to CA-4-P. Pericyte staining was much greater in VEGF188 and control tumors than in VEGF120 and VEGF164 tumors. Vascular volume was highest in VEGF120 and control tumors (CD31 staining) but total vascular length was highest in VEGF188 tumors, reflecting very narrow vessels forming complex vascular networks. I.v. administered 40 kDa FITC-dextran leaked slowly from the vasculature of VEGF188 tumors compared with VEGF120 tumors. Intravital microscopy measurements of vascular length and RBC velocity showed that CA-4-P produced significantly more vascular damage in VEGF120 and VEGF164 tumors than in VEGF188 and control tumors. Importantly, this translated into a similar differential in therapeutic response, as determined by tumor growth delay. Results imply differences in signaling pathways between VEGF isoforms and suggest that VEGF isoforms might be useful in vascular-disrupting cancer therapy to predict tumor susceptibility to VDAs