Negotiating Difference: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Writing Center Interactions Between Peer Tutors and Multilingual Tutees

Collier (1995), Cummins (1981), and Mitchell, Destino and Karam (1997) claimed that it could take ten years for multilingual (ML) students to become proficient in academic English. In 2001, the Conference on College Composition and Communication [CCCC] Statement on Second-Language Writing and Writers asserted the same. Yet, faculty might judge the writing of ML students as deficient because they write with an “accent” (Bruce and Rafoth, 2016; Leki, 1992; Matsuda and Cox, 2011; Severino and Deifell, 2011). Consequently, ML students often seek assistance from peer tutors at the university writing center. In this dissertation, I perform a qualitative study to explore how peer tutors and ML students negotiate difference at a university writing center set in a predominantly White institution. I provide background regarding the historical approaches to tutoring. Using sociocultural theory and the Interaction Hypothesis, I understand the data of 15 hours of writing center interactions, three hours of focus group interviews, and numerous written artifacts from the ML tuteees. I also find a critical discourse analysis reveals inequalities in power and authority between the peer tutors and the ML students. In the end, I suggest paths for future research

The Effects of Participation in a Grief Choir on Perceived Grief, Coping, Energy, Social Support, and Health Among Bereaved Adults: A Mixed Methods Randomized Control Study

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of participation in a grief choir vs. verbal grief group on bereaved persons’ perceived grief, coping, energy, social support and health and to examine the experiences of those participating in both groups. In this mixed-methods study, the results from qualitative phenomenological focus groups were used to explain and interpret the findings of the Randomized Control Trial (RCT). Findings demonstrated that the grief choir may have been as effective as the verbal grief group when impacting the participants’ experience of grief

Omnino nanocomposite crosslinked networks

Disclosed are bulk, crosslinked nanocomposite networks that do not require a host polymer in the matrix. Bulk nanocomposites can be formed via derivatization of nanoparticles with functional ligands that directly or indirectly crosslink with one another or with nanostructures of the network to form a highly crosslinked network. Disclosed bulk nanocomposites can contain nanoscale materials at extremely high loading levels. Nanostructures incorporated in the networks can include optically active materials such as inorganic nanostructures doped with optically active rare earth ions

KSHV Induction of Angiogenic and Lymphangiogenic Phenotypes

Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) is a highly vascularized tumor supporting large amounts of neo-angiogenesis. The major cell type in KS tumors is the spindle cell, a cell that expresses markers of lymphatic endothelium. KSHV, the etiologic agent of KS, is found in the spindle cells of all KS tumors. Considering the extreme extent of angiogenesis in KS tumors at all stages it has been proposed that KSHV directly induces angiogenesis in a paracrine fashion. In accordance with this theory, KSHV infection of endothelial cells in culture induces a number of host pathways involved in activation of angiogenesis and a number of KSHV genes themselves can induce pathways involved in angiogenesis. Spindle cells are phenotypically endothelial in nature, and therefore, activation through the induction of angiogenic and/or lymphangiogenic phenotypes by the virus may also be directly involved in spindle cell growth and tumor induction. Accordingly, KSHV infection of endothelial cells induces cell autonomous angiogenic phenotypes to activate host cells. KSHV infection can also reprogram blood endothelial cells to lymphatic endothelium. However, KSHV induces some blood endothelial specific genes upon infection of lymphatic endothelial cells creating a phenotypic intermediate between blood and lymphatic endothelium. Induction of pathways involved in angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis are likely to be critical for tumor cell growth and spread. Thus, induction of both cell autonomous and non-autonomous changes in angiogenic and lymphangiogenic pathways by KSHV likely plays a key role in the formation of KS tumors