Analyzing the Aztec deification of the Spanish Conquistadores and reassessing its significance

Thesis (S.B. in History)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-58).Immediately following the Spanish Conquest of Mexico in 1521, accounts arose claiming the Aztecs believed the Spaniards to be gods. This tale of Spanish deification has sparked heated debate among scholars for centuries as they have been asking, "Did the Aztecs truly believe the Spaniards to be gods?" This question naturally results in two lines of argument, those who think the Aztecs did believe the Spaniards to be gods and those that do not. The scholars arguing for the Aztec deification of the Spaniards rely on known Aztec beliefs, the importance of time to the Aztecs, and the historical works that clearly state the Aztecs though the Spaniards to be divine. The scholars against this argument instead argue the Spaniards created this account of European apotheosis, based on historical precedents and strikingly similar accounts of European apotheosis after the Spanish Conquest of Mexico. Both of these arguments are not, however, free of criticism, revealing the inability to ever answer this question decisively. Instead, this intriguing narrative of the conquest should be reassessed using new questions that could provide new insight on the relations of Spaniards and their conquered subjects, on cultural clashes more generally, and on historical work and interests over time.by Alexandria C. Hall.S.B.in Histor

Northeasterners

Northeasterners is a collection of poetry focusing on place and language as they shape identity, particularly with regards to growing up as a young woman in working-class, rural Vermont

Mapping the Landscape of Asynchronous and Synchronous Online Services in Communication Centers

In response to the growing presence of online learning in higher education, this project explored communication centers’ online synchronous (real time) and asynchronous (submit and respond) advertised services. Using the National Association of Communication Center’s directory, only 21 (20%) of the viable websites mentioned online services. The 21 websites were coded for types of online mediated services offered, the platforms used for services (e.g. Skype, WebX, virtual whiteboard), as well as the types of consulting services provided (e.g. outline feedback, presentation rehearsals, mock interviews). While 11 (52%) of the websites offered some form of synchronous conferencing service and 5 (23%) offered both synchronous and asynchronous services, this research reveals the need for more communication centers to consider and seriously investigate the logistics of offering online services in order to best meet the growing, diverse needs of both online and brick-and-mortar learners.    

Zephyr: The Sixteenth Issue

This is the sixteenth issue of Zephyr, the University of New England\u27s journal of creative expression. Since 2000, Zephyr has published original drawings, paintings, photography, prose, and verse created by current and former members of the University community. Zephyr\u27s Editorial Board is made up exclusively of matriculating students.https://dune.une.edu/zephyr/1094/thumbnail.jp

Compromised N-Glycosylation Processing of Kv3.1b Correlates with Perturbed Motor Neuron Structure and Locomotor Activity

Neurological difficulties commonly accompany individuals suffering from congenital disorders of glycosylation, resulting from defects in the N-glycosylation pathway. Vacant N-glycosylation sites (N220 and N229) of Kv3, voltage-gated K+ channels of high-firing neurons, deeply perturb channel activity in neuroblastoma (NB) cells. Here we examined neuron development, localization, and activity of Kv3 channels in wildtype AB zebrafish and CRISPR/Cas9 engineered NB cells, due to perturbations in N-glycosylation processing of Kv3.1b. We showed that caudal primary (CaP) motor neurons of zebrafish spinal cord transiently expressing fully glycosylated (WT) Kv3.1b have stereotypical morphology, while CaP neurons expressing partially glycosylated (N220Q) Kv3.1b showed severe maldevelopment with incomplete axonal branching and extension around the ventral musculature. Consequently, larvae expressing N220Q in CaP neurons had impaired swimming locomotor activity. We showed that replacement of complex N-glycans with oligomannose attached to Kv3.1b and at cell surface lessened Kv3.1b dispersal to outgrowths by altering the number, size, and density of Kv3.1b-containing particles in membranes of rat neuroblastoma cells. Opening and closing rates were slowed in Kv3 channels containing Kv3.1b with oligomannose, instead of complex N-glycans, which suggested a reduction in the intrinsic dynamics of the Kv3.1b α-subunit. Thus, N-glycosylation processing of Kv3.1b regulates neuronal development and excitability, thereby controlling motor activity

The global politics of a ‘poncy pillowcase’: Migration and borders in Coronation Street

This article examines the ways in which popular culture stages and supplies resources for agency in everyday life, with particular attention to migration and borders. Drawing upon cultural studies, and specific insights originating from the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, we explore how intersectional identities such as race, ethnicity, class, and gender are experienced in relation to the globalisation of culture and identity in a 2007 Coronation Street storyline. The soap opera genre offers particular insights into how agency emerges in everyday life as migrants and locals navigate the forces of globalisation. We argue that a focus on popular culture can mitigate the problem of isolating migrant experiences from local experiences in migrant-receiving areas

The Five Senses of STEM Learning

The Five Senses of STEM Learning is a framework and approach to teaching, learning, curriculum, and pedagogy deeply grounded in Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995, 2016) and Universal Design for Learning (Meyer et al., 2013; Rose & Meyer, 2002) while also incorporating a range of ideas and concepts that are specific to STEM learning and strengthen the connections to the particular contexts of the science, technology, engineering, or mathematics learning environment.Funded in part by an Indiana Department of Education HB-1008 Student Learning Recovery Plan grant

Mapping geographical inequalities in access to drinking water and sanitation facilities in low-income and middle-income countries, 2000-17

Background: Universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities is an essential human right, recognised in the Sustainable Development Goals as crucial for preventing disease and improving human wellbeing. Comprehensive, high-resolution estimates are important to inform progress towards achieving this goal. We aimed to produce high-resolution geospatial estimates of access to drinking water and sanitation facilities. Methods: We used a Bayesian geostatistical model and data from 600 sources across more than 88 low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) to estimate access to drinking water and sanitation facilities on continuous continent-wide surfaces from 2000 to 2017, and aggregated results to policy-relevant administrative units. We estimated mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive subcategories of facilities for drinking water (piped water on or off premises, other improved facilities, unimproved, and surface water) and sanitation facilities (septic or sewer sanitation, other improved, unimproved, and open defecation) with use of ordinal regression. We also estimated the number of diarrhoeal deaths in children younger than 5 years attributed to unsafe facilities and estimated deaths that were averted by increased access to safe facilities in 2017, and analysed geographical inequality in access within LMICs. Findings: Across LMICs, access to both piped water and improved water overall increased between 2000 and 2017, with progress varying spatially. For piped water, the safest water facility type, access increased from 40·0% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 39·4–40·7) to 50·3% (50·0–50·5), but was lowest in sub-Saharan Africa, where access to piped water was mostly concentrated in urban centres. Access to both sewer or septic sanitation and improved sanitation overall also increased across all LMICs during the study period. For sewer or septic sanitation, access was 46·3% (95% UI 46·1–46·5) in 2017, compared with 28·7% (28·5–29·0) in 2000. Although some units improved access to the safest drinking water or sanitation facilities since 2000, a large absolute number of people continued to not have access in several units with high access to such facilities (>80%) in 2017. More than 253 000 people did not have access to sewer or septic sanitation facilities in the city of Harare, Zimbabwe, despite 88·6% (95% UI 87·2–89·7) access overall. Many units were able to transition from the least safe facilities in 2000 to safe facilities by 2017; for units in which populations primarily practised open defecation in 2000, 686 (95% UI 664–711) of the 1830 (1797–1863) units transitioned to the use of improved sanitation. Geographical disparities in access to improved water across units decreased in 76·1% (95% UI 71·6–80·7) of countries from 2000 to 2017, and in 53·9% (50·6–59·6) of countries for access to improved sanitation, but remained evident subnationally in most countries in 2017. Interpretation: Our estimates, combined with geospatial trends in diarrhoeal burden, identify where efforts to increase access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities are most needed. By highlighting areas with successful approaches or in need of targeted interventions, our estimates can enable precision public health to effectively progress towards universal access to safe water and sanitation