Discover Your Language training in Papua New Guinea

“Discover Your Language” (DYL) is an annual four-week course which started in 2013. It introduces linguistics (syntax and morphology) to Papua New Guinean Bible translators, and helps them to co-author a preliminary grammar of their language. Our primary goal is to train translators to appreciate the grammar of their own language, equipping them to translate in a more natural, grammatical way. Each team of two students from a particular language is paired with a mentor. Lessons introduce grammatical topics such as morphemes, pronouns, semantic roles and verb morphology. The lessons include English or Tok Pisin examples, and then each group works together to discover how that feature is expressed in the students' language. The course participants also record texts in guided elicitation, transcribe them into FLEx (Fieldworks Language Explorer), and give English translations and word glosses. The analysis of their written and oral texts provides examples for the sketch grammar. The secondary goal of DYL is to produce descriptive grammars. Instead of assuming that grammar-writing requires many years of research by a university-trained linguist, we give people a linguistically trained mentor and interactive teaching, and ask them to write about their language in a Grammar Description template. Difficulties include the typological diversity of PNG languages, the fact that many languages are undescribed, and sometimes the limited English proficiency of the course participants, who typically have year 10 education or less. We have also observed that the quality of the written grammar varies depending on the linguistic expertise of the mentor. Often a mentor with more experience in PNG languages can help prepare the data for a linguistic audience. The intended audience for the Tentative Grammar Descriptions is both the translators' local communities – for language vitality, literacy and translation, as well as the academic linguistics community – for typological study. DYL promotes language documentation and description in PNG, where so many languages are endangered. DYL training is increasingly needed, as many Bible translators in PNG do not have a linguistically trained adviser, or any outsider advocate. Grammatical description in a Bible translation project supports translation quality (Järvinen & Healey 1998) and can increase speakers' value of their languages (Boerger 2015). This poster reviews the four DYL workshops, highlighting strengths, weaknesses and how we plan to improve it. Similar training courses have been offered in Africa (Stirtz 2015; Wiesemann 1986), and we suggest that DYL workshops could be run elsewhere in the Pacific. REFERENCES Aki, Mambu and Ryan Pennington. 2014. Tentative grammar description for the Amam language. http://www.sil.org/pacific/png/abstract.asp?id=928474556181. Alua, Aua, Ali Taba and Namsoo Kim. 2014. Tentative grammar description for the Nara language. http://www.sil.org/pacific/png/abstract.asp?id=928474556075. Aufo, Rose, Rock Maino and Juliann Bullock. 2016. Tentative grammar description for the Mekeo [mek] language. http://www.sil.org/pacific/png/abstract.asp?id=928474565281. Beerle-Moor, Marianne and Vitaly Voinov. 2015. Introduction to Language Vitality through Bible Translation. In Language Vitality through Bible Translation. Peter Lang: Berkeley Insights in Linguistics and Semiotics, 1-17. Boerger, Brenda H. 2015. Bible translation as Natqgu language and culture advocacy. In Language Vitality through Bible Translation, Beerle-Moor, Marianne and Vitaly Voinov, eds. Peter Lang: Berkeley Insights in Linguistics and Semiotics, 145-176. Ikamu, Gabriel and Joong-Hwan Jo. 2014. Tentative grammar description for the Tairuma language. http://www.sil.org/pacific/png/abstract.asp?id=928474556077. Järvinen, Liisa and Joan Healey. 1998. Grammar Notebook. Ukarumpa: Unpublished manuscript. King, Phil, Ryan Pennington and Faith Turner, compilers. 2015. Discover Your Language course notes. Ukarumpa: Unpublished manuscript. Stirtz, Timothy M. 2015. Rapid Grammar Collection as an Approach to Language Development. SIL Electronic Working Papers 2015-004. http://www.sil.org/resources/publications/entry/62483. Wiesemann, Ursula. 1986. Manuel de sémantique et de traduction. PROPELCA Series, Université de Yaoundé

Pitchstone Fines: A New Inorganic Binder For Portland Cement-Based Construction Products

The findings of this investigation into the performance pitchstone fines (PF) sourced from a naturally occurring pitchstone deposit in Queensland Australia as a potential pozzolanic supplementary cementitious material (SCM) are reported. 50 mm mortar cubes were prepared by replacement of 20% of the Portland cement (PC) with PF and PF blended with silica fume (SF) in a 1:1 ratio. Mortar cubes were also prepared with a 20% PC substitution level using fly ash (FA) and FA blended with SF also in a 1:1 ratio for comparison as the SCM. Control mortar cubes without PC substitution were also prepared. The compressive strength results for PF blended mortars were comparable to FA mortars, were within 75% of the control mortar at 7 and 28 days and approached the strength of the control mortar at 91 days curing. PF and FA blends containing SF produced compressive strength which surpassed the control mortar. Drying shrinkage measurements are also reported for up to 28 days storage in air. The PF mortar was found to have comparable shrinkage to the control mortar; the shrinkage of the FA mortar was found to be significantly greater. The differences were attributed to the particle shape, angularity and size resulting in greater capillary forces in the FA mortars resulting in greater shrinkage

Characterisation of Portland cement blended with pitchstone fines aiding carbon dioxide emission reduction

Climate change and global wanning present a significant challenge as unsustainable levels of greenhouse gas emissions arising from human activities continue to be emitted. The cement industry is responsible for between five and ten per cent of annual world carbon dioxide emissions; most arising from the manufacture of Portland cement (PC). An effective way of reducing emissions is by incorporating supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) as partial PC replacements. SCMs are silicate or aluminosilicate based pozzolanic materials which, in finely divided form, combine with water and calcium hydroxide (lime), liberated by cement hydration, to form compounds exhibiting cementitious properties. Pitchstone is such an aluminosilicate and has the potential to act as an effective pozzolan for partial replacement of PC. In North Queensland, Australia, a vast deposit of pitchstone is mined and processed for expandable perlite aggregate. During the classification stage of the excavated natural material, waste pitchstone fines (PF) less than 0.5 mm in size are generated. This study evaluates the waste PF as a viable, eco-friendly pozzolan for the partial replacement of PC. The reactivity of the PF is compared to fly ash (FA), using the pozzolanic compressive strength activity index (SAI) after seven, 28, and 91 days ageing at 20 per cent and 40 per cent PC substitutions. PF was found to be comparable to FA as a pozzolan at 20 per cent PC substitution at all ages tested. However, for the 40 per cent substitution blends significant strength was only achieved at 91 days ageing for the FA blend. The pozzolanic reactivity was also investigated using thermogravimetric analysis to determine the degree of free lime present after 91 days. In all cases where an SCM was added, the free lime was observed to be consumed with increasing age

Educating Library, Archives, and Museum Professionals in the US: Promoting Collaboration, Recognizing the Power of Information and Object in Professional Identity

Two digital curation educators, representing graduate schools of museum studies and information science at Johns Hopkins University and Simmons University, respectively, propose that the field of digital curation transcends disciplinary boundaries and offers opportunities for collaboration across the LAM sector. As students prepare to join the growing international digital curation community, these new professionals will be ready to communicate and cooperate with peers in libraries, archives and museums across the globe and across town. The result will be enhanced access to cultural heritage resources; greater efficiencies and economies of scale realized through wider data services; and improved service to users through the adoption of shared standards, protocols, and professional training—while at the same time maintaining the unique perspectives of each profession. Placement data shows that these graduates are finding jobs across the LAM spectrum, even in the time of Covid-19

Book Reviews

Reviews of the following books: Island in Time: A Natural and Human History of the Islands of Maine by Philip W. Conkling; A Seafaring Legacy: The Photographs, Diaries and Memorabilia of a Maine Sea Captain and His Wife by Julianna FreeHand; Coming of Age on Damariscove Island, Maine by Carl R. Griffin III and Alaric Faulkner; The Identity of the St. Francis Indians by Gordon M. Day; Soldiers, Sailors and Patriots of the Revolutionary War: Maine by Carleton E. Fisher and Sue K. Fisher

BUCA Inktober Zine

Boston University Comic Arts is a student-run organization that brings together comic artists and illustrators of all backgrounds and skill levels. We meet twice weekly to share our work with each other, draw together, and learn together. Our goal is to provide learning and networking opportunities for our members as well as to introduce the world of comics to the Boston University community

Intestinal Neurod1 expression impairs paneth cell differentiation and promotes enteroendocrine lineage specification

Transcription factor Neurod1 is required for enteroendocrine progenitor differentiation and maturation. Several earlier studies indicated that ectopic expression of Neurod1 converted non- neuronal cells into neurons. However, the functional consequence of ectopic Neurod1 expression has not been examined in the GI tract, and it is not known whether Neurod1 can similarly switch cell fates in the intestine. We generated a mouse line that would enable us to conditionally express Neurod1 in intestinal epithelial cells at different stages of differentiation. Forced expression of Neurod1 throughout intestinal epithelium increased the number of EECs as well as the expression of EE specific transcription factors and hormones. Furthermore, we observed a substantial reduction of Paneth cell marker expression, although the expressions of enterocyte-, tuft- and goblet-cell specific markers are largely not affected. Our earlier study indicated that Neurog3+ progenitor cells give rise to not only EECs but also Goblet and Paneth cells. Here we show that the conditional expression of Neurod1 restricts Neurog3+ progenitors to adopt Paneth cell fate, and promotes more pronounced EE cell differentiation, while such effects are not seen in more differentiated Neurod1+ cells. Together, our data suggest that forced expression of Neurod1 programs intestinal epithelial cells more towards an EE cell fate at the expense of the Paneth cell lineage and the effect ceases as cells mature to EE cells