In Defense of the Lone Wolf: Collaboration in Language Documentation

Collaboration has become a hot topic in the field of language documentation, with many authors insisting that lone wolf research is unethical research. We take issue with the viewpoints that documentary linguists must collaborate with the community, that the linguist’s goals should be subordinate to the goals of community members, and that solo research is necessarily unethical research. Collaborating with community members in language documentation projects is not the only method of treating the community fairly and reciprocating their generosity. There will not always be community members interested in language documentation, nor will there always be community members capable of participation. Even in cases where community members are interested, capable, and willing, both the researcher and the community should be allowed to decide when, where, how, and whether to collaborate. Moreover, we suggest that the insistence on collaboration can cause guilt when collaboration is difficult, or can lead researchers into unproductive or even dangerous situations. On the other hand, we welcome collaboration if both parties retain autonomy in decision-making and both truly want to work collaboratively. There is nothing unethical about setting one’s own research agenda and conducting linguistic fieldwork alone. Lone wolf linguistics isn’t necessarily unethical linguistics.National Foreign Language Resource Cente

The medical student

The Medical Student was published from 1888-1921 by the students of Boston University School of Medicine

An analysis-ready and quality controlled resource for pediatric brain white-matter research

We created a set of resources to enable research based on openly-available diffusion MRI (dMRI) data from the Healthy Brain Network (HBN) study. First, we curated the HBN dMRI data (N = 2747) into the Brain Imaging Data Structure and preprocessed it according to best-practices, including denoising and correcting for motion effects, susceptibility-related distortions, and eddy currents. Preprocessed, analysis-ready data was made openly available. Data quality plays a key role in the analysis of dMRI. To optimize QC and scale it to this large dataset, we trained a neural network through the combination of a small data subset scored by experts and a larger set scored by community scientists. The network performs QC highly concordant with that of experts on a held out set (ROC-AUC = 0.947). A further analysis of the neural network demonstrates that it relies on image features with relevance to QC. Altogether, this work both delivers resources to advance transdiagnostic research in brain connectivity and pediatric mental health, and establishes a novel paradigm for automated QC of large datasets

Lawson criterion for ignition exceeded in an inertial fusion experiment

For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition as a proof of principle of various fusion concepts. Following the Lawson criterion, an ignited plasma is one where the fusion heating power is high enough to overcome all the physical processes that cool the fusion plasma, creating a positive thermodynamic feedback loop with rapidly increasing temperature. In inertially confined fusion, ignition is a state where the fusion plasma can begin "burn propagation" into surrounding cold fuel, enabling the possibility of high energy gain. While "scientific breakeven" (i.e., unity target gain) has not yet been achieved (here target gain is 0.72, 1.37 MJ of fusion for 1.92 MJ of laser energy), this Letter reports the first controlled fusion experiment, using laser indirect drive, on the National Ignition Facility to produce capsule gain (here 5.8) and reach ignition by nine different formulations of the Lawson criterion

The syntax in Tlingit verbs

Tlingit verbs appear to be single phonological words but they are constructed from a large number of distinct morphological elements that correspond to argument structure, event structure, aspect, mood, modality, tense, and qualia. Previous analyses have accounted for the verbal morphology of Tlingit with opaque position class template systems. These systems present the internal structure of verbs as arbitrary and do not address the many dependencies between elements. This dissertation argues that the Tlingit verb implements a regular syntax with each morpheme instantiating a syntactic terminal. Ordering within the verb word is a consequence of regular syntactic structure with all dependencies between elements reflecting selection and agreement phenomena. The verb-internal syntax requires no extraordinary theoretical mechanisms: Tlingit verb morphology is neither unique nor problematic from a theoretical perspective. To demonstrate this argument, this dissertation develops a formal theoretical model of Tlingit verbal structure within the Minimalist Program framework. An acategorial root forms the basis of the syntactic structure, encoding the majority of lexical properties. Other verbal morphology is either functional heads such as v, Voice, and Asp, or minimal lexical elements such as D pronouns or N incorporates. As well as phonological form and encyclopedic meaning, roots also encode valency, qualia, durativity, stativity, and irrealis, along with other morphosyntactic properties. These properties influence both the syntactic functions and semantic interpretations of the functional heads, so that the syntax and semantics of each head is contextually dependent, fully predictable and compositional. Long distance dependencies arise from selection, movement, and agreement between heads. Every morpheme either saturates or restricts an event or an argument, thus predictably contributing to the structure and interpretation of the whole verb. Movement and spellout are determined by phases which correspond to regular domains in the phonological verb word and phrase. Careful attention is paid to many supposedly irregular or lexical phenomena, showing that most are extensions of regular phenomena, and that some actually reflect underdocumented grammatical patterns. The results of this research have many implications for linguistic theory and for related Na-Dene languages and provide a robust analytical foundation for Tlingit language teaching and revitalization.Arts, Faculty ofLinguistics, Department ofGraduat

Recent changes in the snout position and surface velocity of Gangotri glacier observed from space

Glacier mass variations have a direct impact on some of the key components of the global water cycle, including sea level rise and freshwater availability. Apart from being one of the largest Himalayan glaciers, Gangotri is one of the sources of water for the Ganges river, which has a considerable influence on the socioeconomic structure of a largely over-populated catchment area accounting for ~26% of India's landmass. In this study, we present the most recent assessment of the Gangotri glacier dynamics, combining the use of interferometric techniques on synthetic aperture radar data and sub-pixel offset tracking on Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) satellite imagery. Results show that on average, the Gangotri glacier snout has receded at a rate of 21.3 ± 3 m year-1 over a period of 6 years (2004-2010). While glacier surface velocity near the snout is estimated to be between 24.8 ± 2.3 and 28.9 ± 2.3 m year-1, interior portions of the glacier recorded velocities in the range of 13.9 ± 2.3 to 70.2 ± 2.3 m year-1. Further, the average glacier surface velocity in the northern (lower) portions (28.1 ± 2.3 m year-1) is observed to be significantly lower than in the southern (higher) portions (48.1 ± 2.3 m year-1) of the Gangotri glacier. These values are calculated with an uncertainty of less than 5 m year-1. Results also highlight a consistent retreat and non-uniform dynamics of the Gangotri glacier. © 2013 © Taylor & Francis