Miscommunication between Aboriginal Students and their Non- Aboriginal Teachers in a Bilingual School

A crucial question in cross-cultural education is how to bridge the cultural and linguis- tic differences between home and school so that a child’s identity can be supported without limiting his or her chances of academic success (Eades, 1991). Various models of bilingual education have been implemented in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory of Australia but the implementation of such programmes is often far from ideal. In the school where this ethnographic study was conducted, miscom- munication between Aboriginal students and their non-Aboriginal teachers was found to be commonplace. Even by late primary school, children often did not comprehend classroom instructions in English. In addition, many students attended school irregu- larly, and many had a history of mild hearing loss due to otitis media (middle ear infection) which is highly prevalent in Australian Aboriginal communities. Cultural differences in communication were not easily differentiated from hearing-related communication problems by non-Aboriginal educators. These difficulties were exac- erbated by the lack of specialist support and appropriate training for teachers in cross-cultural communication and ESL teaching. Although the Aboriginal teaching assistants were often effective in minimising communication breakdown, the extent of miscommunication severely inhibited the children’s education when English was the language of instruction and interaction. The problem identified is one that should be of major concern to all concerned with Aboriginal education

GemTools: A fast and efficient approach to estimating genetic ancestry

To uncover the genetic basis of complex disease, individuals are often measured at a large number of genetic variants (usually SNPs) across the genome. GemTools provides computationally efficient tools for modeling genetic ancestry based on SNP genotypes. The main algorithm creates an eigenmap based on genetic similarities, and then clusters subjects based on their map position. This process is continued iteratively until each cluster is relatively homogeneous. For genetic association studies, GemTools matches cases and controls based on genetic similarity.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Developing a Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages

National Foreign Language Resource CenterThe fluctuating fortunes of Northern Territory bilingual education programs in Australian languages and English have put at risk thousands of books developed for these programs in remote schools. In an effort to preserve such a rich cultural and linguistic heritage, the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages project is establishing an open access, online repository comprising digital versions of these materials. Using web technologies to store and access the resources makes them accessible to the communities of origin, the wider academic community, and the general public. The process of creating, populating, and implementing such an archive has posed many interesting technical, cultural and linguistic challenges, some of which are explored in this pape

Shoehorning complex metadata in the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages

The Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages is making endangered literature in Australian Indigenous languages publicly available online (Bow et al. 2014). Like any other project attempting to package a vastly complex body of work into an accessible repository, this project has grappled with a number of complex issues. Wrangling a variety of text types, languages, locations, digitisation processes, metadata and other issues into an accessible online repository requires a great deal of shoehorning

POLOCALC: a Novel Method to Measure the Absolute Polarization Orientation of the Cosmic Microwave Background

We describe a novel method to measure the absolute orientation of the polarization plane of the CMB with arcsecond accuracy, enabling unprecedented measurements for cosmology and fundamental physics. Existing and planned CMB polarization instruments looking for primordial B-mode signals need an independent, experimental method for systematics control on the absolute polarization orientation. The lack of such a method limits the accuracy of the detection of inflationary gravitational waves, the constraining power on the neutrino sector through measurements of gravitational lensing of the CMB, the possibility of detecting Cosmic Birefringence, and the ability to measure primordial magnetic fields. Sky signals used for calibration and direct measurements of the detector orientation cannot provide an accuracy better than 1 deg. Self-calibration methods provide better accuracy, but may be affected by foreground signals and rely heavily on model assumptions. The POLarization Orientation CALibrator for Cosmology, POLOCALC, will dramatically improve instrumental accuracy by means of an artificial calibration source flying on balloons and aerial drones. A balloon-borne calibrator will provide far-field source for larger telescopes, while a drone will be used for tests and smaller polarimeters. POLOCALC will also allow a unique method to measure the telescopes' polarized beam. It will use microwave emitters between 40 and 150 GHz coupled to precise polarizing filters. The orientation of the source polarization plane will be registered to sky coordinates by star cameras and gyroscopes with arcsecond accuracy. This project can become a rung in the calibration ladder for the field: any existing or future CMB polarization experiment observing our polarization calibrator will enable measurements of the polarization angle for each detector with respect to absolute sky coordinates.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, Accepted by Journal of Astronomical Instrumentatio

Sensitization of vesicles to pH and glucose/

The structural reorganization of vesicle membranes that occur due to a pH dependent complexation of the membranes with poly(2-ethylacrylic acid) (PEAA) was investigated. The kinetics of the reorganization were examined by monitoring the changes in the turbidity of vesicle suspensions that occurs during the reorganization. The response of the rate of reorganization to pH, temperature, and membrane composition was studied. It was found that the reorganization behaved similarly to the solubilization of phosphatidylcholine vesicle by apolipoproteins. Permeability changes accompanying the process were recorded by monitoring the fluorescence changes of vesicle suspensions containing a fluorescent marker. The rate of change in permeability was found to be fast relative to the rate of structural reorganization. PEAA was labeled with the dansyl chromophore. Fluorescence microscopy was used to visualize the interaction of the labeled polymer (DnsPEAA) with egg yolk phosphatidylcholine vesicles. Adsorption of DnsPEAA onto vesicle surfaces produced a concentration of fluorescence on the vesicles. Following acidification of these samples, vesicles reorganized into many smaller particles with a diffusion of fluorescence. The reorganization was sensitized to the presence of glucose by incorporating the enzyme, glucose oxidase, into vesicles suspensions containing PEAA. The rate of permeability increase of membranes could be controlled by adjusting the concentrations glucose, enzyme, oxygen and PEAA

Kinetics of membrane micellization by the hydrophobic polyelectrolyte poly( 2-ethylacrylic acid)

Rates of pH-dependent micellization of multilamellar vesicles by the hydrophobic polyelectrolyte poly(2-ethylacrylic acid) (PEAA) have been measured turbidometrically. This polymer shows a strong pH-dependence in its affinity for phospholipid membranes, binding in increasing amounts as pH is lowered and ultimately solubilizing membranes to form mixed micelles (Tirrell, Takigawa and Seki (1985) Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 446, 237). The rate of solubilization of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) vesicle suspensions by PEAA increases approximately linearly with reductions in pH below a threshold at pH 6.55. Interestingly, negatively-charged dipalmitoylphosphatidylglycerol membranes showed qualitatively similar behavior in the presence of PEAA, and incorporation of 10% or 20% dipalmitoylphosphatidic acid in DPPC membranes did not affect solubilization rates, demonstrating that membrane charge is not an important factor in determining micellization kinetics. Micellization of DPPC and dimyrstoylphosphatidylcholine membranes occurs most rapidly at their respective gel-liquid crystalline transition temperatures (Tm); the rate enhancement is correlated with a peak in the temperature-dependent binding of a fluorescently-modified PEAA in slightly alkaline solutions in which no micellization is observed. The lateral compressibility of the membrane, which has a similar peak at T_m, is proposed to be an important determinant of the rate and extent of polymer adsorption, and consequently of the rate of micellization

Collaboration and Co-Teaching: Librarians Teaching Digital Humanities in the Classroom

Digital Humanities (DH) as an area of engagement with students, staff, and teaching faculty has been rapidly evolving at the University of Kansas Libraries (KU Libraries) over the past several years. As the popularity of DH tools, platforms and methodologies has increased, so has the demand to support and engage teaching faculty with incorporating DH in their courses and with their own research interests. Many academic libraries, including KU Libraries, are both adjusting to and leading this shift, figuring out ways to support digital scholarship for research and teaching, while at the same time gently delineating our roles, responsibilities, and limitations. This chapter will describe three examples of efforts by librarians with subject, instruction, and digital scholarship expertise to provide digital humanities instruction and training to students and faculty, and will look at how these efforts relate to our previous and evolving roles within the library. We will also provide concrete examples of in-class assignments, describe what worked well and what could be improved, and discuss some possible ways that we ourselves might develop the knowledge and skills needed to engage in this kind of work. We hope that these examples and observations can serve as models, starting-points, or inspiration for subject specialists to both learn more about digital humanities and to develop their own course activities