Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Video In Early Field Experiences, Laura H. Baecher, Shiao-Chuan Kung, Abigail M. Jewkes, Christine Rosalia

Publications and Research

The purpose of this investigation was to explore the influence of video models on teacher candidates' capacity to self-evaluate their teaching performance in early fieldwork. This was examined by providing video models along with evaluation rubrics that represented desired performance standard to one group of pre-service teacher candidates, while another group was provided the descriptions of these lessons and corresponding evaluation rubrics. Participants then video recorded their teaching and self-evaluated this performance. Results indicated that the introduction of video models reduced inflation of scores in self-evaluation and enhanced candidates' understanding of the expectations for the performance assessment of teaching.

Music Cultures Of Mechanical Reproduction, Peter L. Manuel

Publications and Research

Popular musics arc best understood as comprising those genres whose styles have evolved in an inextricable relation with their dissemination via the mass media and their marketing and sale on a mass-commodity basis. While much popular-music activity takes place independently of the mass media, other essential aspects of popular-music production and marketing arc inevitably inseparable from technologies of mechanical reproduction, which perforce condition aspects of music culture in general. Hence, just as one could speak of military cultures based around the stirrup, or later the firearm, or agrarian cultures based on the hoe, the ox, or the tractor, so do …

Democratizing Indian Popular Music: From Cassette Culture To The Digital Era, Peter L. Manuel

Publications and Research

The history of Indian popular music constitutes in itself a significant development in modern culture, as this set of genres—especially but not only in their Bollywood forms—have been cherished by hundreds of millions of listeners not only in South Asia but internationally as well. At the same time, the trajectory of Indian popular music represents a dramatic case study of media culture as well, as its patterns of ownership, consumption, and even musical structures themselves have been conditioned by technological changes. Most striking is the way that a highly monopolized, streamlined, and homogeneous popular music culture dominated for several decades …

Making Higher Education More Affordable, One Course Reading At A Time: Academic Libraries As Key Advocates For Open Access Textbooks And Educational Resources, Karen Okamoto

Publications and Research

Open access textbooks (OATs) and educational resources (OERs) are being lauded as a viable alternative to costly print textbooks. Some academic libraries are joining the OER movement by creating guides to open repositories. Others are promoting OATs and OERs, reviewing them, and even helping to create them. This article analyzes how academic libraries are currently engaged in open access textbook and OER initiatives. By drawing on examples of library initiatives across the United States, the author illustrates how libraries are facilitating the adoption and implementation of these affordable resources.

Stage As Street: Representation At The Juncture Of The Arts And Justice, E. Gabriel Dattatreyan, Daniel L. Stageman

Publications and Research

Arts educators working with court-involved youth face a set of complex and imbricated challenges. First, how do we gain the interest of the young people we would have participate in what we imagine are col-laborative and mutually generative projects? Second, how do we mediate representational tensions when the project is not solely therapeutic but has a broader public pedagogical purpose—to disrupt the simplistic and pathologizing discourses of poverty and violence that so often capture young men and women of color in the United States? (Bourgois, 2002; Noguera, 2008). Third, and not least, how do we navigate the institutional settings where …

The Effect Of Personal Religiosity On Attitudes Toward Abortion, Divorce, And Gender Equality: Does Cultural Context Make A Difference?, Amy Adamczyk

Publications and Research

Across the globe, people differ considerably in their attitudes about abortion, divorce, and gender equality. These differences are reflected in the diversity of laws regulating divorce, penalties for women obtaining abortions, and differences in women's levels of political representation. While personal religious beliefs are often seen as having a significant role in shaping attitudes, economic development and political stability are also seen to be important predictors of attitudes about sexual morality and gender equality. This study draws on ideas from cultural sociology and the sociology of religion to address the interrelationship between personal religiosity and national cultural orientations to explain …

"These Illegals": Personhood, Profit, And The Political Economy Of Punishment In Federal-Local Immigration Enforcement Partnerships, Daniel L. Stageman

Publications and Research

Contemporary popular discourse linking immigration and immigrants to crime has proved extremely difficult to dislodge, despite clear evidence that immigrant labor provides broad and direct economic benefits to a significant proportion of the US population. The criminalizing discourse directed at immigrants may in part be functional, by leading to restrictionist immigration policies and practices and subjecting immigrants to intensified economic exploitation.

This study examines the economic context in which state and local governments adopt restrictionist immigration policies and practices, and implicates the political economy of punishment (Rusche and Kirchheimer, Punishment and social structure. New York: Columbia University Press, 1939) …

Conjuring The Close From Afar A Border-Crossing Tale Of Vieques’ Activism And Obama-Empire, Víctor M. Torres-Vélez, Sarah Molinari, Katharine Lawrence

Publications and Research

After more than 60 years of military occupation, 30 of these under violent military practices, a social movement forced the U.S. Navy from the island of Vieques. This victory would not have been possible without the highly effective organization of civil disobedience carried out on the island. But the sum total of the actions that eventually forced out the U.S. Navy, neither happened exclusively within the boundaries of Vieques, nor was carried out by Viequense residents alone. In this article we want to suggest that this amazing victory—a testament of people’s will in the face of globalization—is also a border- …

Survey On Humanities Graduate Education And Alternative Academic Careers (Main), Katina Rogers

Publications and Research

As humanities scholars increasingly recognize the value of public engagement, and as the proportion of tenure-track faculty positions available to new graduates continues to decline, many humanities programs are focusing renewed attention on equipping graduate students for careers as scholars both within and beyond academe. To support those efforts, the Scholarly Communication Institute has carried out a study investigating perceptions about career preparation provided by humanities graduate programs. The survey results help to create a more solid foundation on which to base curricular reform and new initiatives by moving the conversation about varied career paths from anecdote to data. The …

Queer Housing Nacional Google Group: A Librarian’S Documentation Of A Community-Specific Resource, Shawn(Ta) Smith-Cruz

Publications and Research

Beginning with a discussion of information access and its relationship to communities, this article is a first-person experience for creating a community-specific information resource, a queer housing listserv called Queer Housing Nacional. Written as a case study for how librarians may apply their skills to community as well as document the journey of this time capsuled listserv, one may find that this listserv may complicate librarianship’s promotion of open access, instead, encouraging closed participatory group structures, with collective distributions of power. Included are multiple email exchanges from the listserv, as well as Appendices of survey questions, notable responses, and …

Language, Politics, And History: An Introductory Essay, José Del Valle

Publications and Research

This book chapter examines different articulations of language and history and introduces a new configuration that focuses on the political dimension of language.

Open Access To Scholarly Articles: Good Policies Ensure Good Practices, Jill Cirasella

Publications and Research

Open access (OA) to scholarly journal articles is now widely accepted as a good thing. However, it will not become the norm without policies promoting openness. This presentation looks at policies that ensure that hundreds of thousands of articles become OA every year.

Open Access To Scholarly Literature: Which Side Are You On?, Jill Cirasella

Publications and Research

Open access (OA) to scholarly literature recently hit a major milestone: Half of all research articles published become open access, either immediately or after an embargo period. Are the articles you read among them? What about the articles you write? Are the journals to which you submit open-access friendly? What about the journals for which you peer review? Are there any reasons why the public should not have access to the results of taxpayer-funded research?

This presentation explains the motivation for OA, describes the details of OA, and differentiates between publishing in open access journals (“gold” OA) and self-archiving works …

Homonationalism, State Rationalities, And Sex Contradictions, Paisley Currah

Publications and Research

Celebrating the re-election of Barack Obama as a win for GLB equality or denouncing the focus on marriage rights as heteronormative misses the point. Both approaches obscure what actually happens in local sites where authority is exercised. Looking into the cracks and crevices of regulatory apparatuses generates a more complex picture. In examining contradictory rules on sex classification, for example, it becomes clear those contradictions often reflect different state projects, such as security, distribution, reproduction. Construing the election as a victory for gay rights or for homonormativity elevates grand concepts—marriage, the state—over the quotidian actions that regulate life.

Popular Music Studies And The Problems Of Sound, Society And Method, Eliot Bates

Publications and Research

Building on Philip Tagg’s timely intervention (2011), I investigate four things in relation to three dominant Anglophone popular music studies journals (Popular Music and Society, Popular Music, and the Journal of Popular Music Studies): 1) what interdisciplinarity or multidisciplinarity means within popular music studies, with a particular focus on the sites of research and the place of ethnographic and/or anthropological approaches; 2) the extent to which popular music studies has developed canonic scholarship, and the citation tendencies present within scholarship on both Western and non-Western popular musics; 3) the motivations for two scholarly groups, Dancecult and ASARP, to breakaway from …

Circularized Synthetic Oligodeoxynucleotides Serve As Promoterless Rna Polymerase Iii Templates For Small Rna Generation In Human Cells, Christine I. Seidl, Lodoe Lama, Kevin Ryan

Publications and Research

Synthetic RNA formulations and viral vectors are the two main approaches for delivering small therapeutic RNA to human cells. Here we report findings supporting an alternative strategy in which an endogenous human RNA polymerase (RNAP) is harnessed to make RNA hairpin-containing small RNA from synthetic single-stranded DNA oligonucleotides. We report that circularizing a DNA template strand encoding a pre-microRNA hairpin mimic can trigger its circumtranscription by human RNAP III in vitro and in human cells. Sequence and secondary structure preferences that appear to promote productive transcription are described. The circular topology of the template is required for productive transcription, at …

A Yeast Gsk-3 Kinase Mck1 Promotes Cdc6 Degradation To Inhibit Dna Re-Replication, Amy E. Ikui, Valentina Rossio, Lea Schroeder, Satoshi Yoshida

Publications and Research

Cdc6p is an essential component of the pre-replicative complex (pre-RC), which binds to DNA replication origins to promote initiation of DNA replication. Only once per cell cycle does DNA replication take place. After initiation, the pre-RC components are disassembled in order to prevent re-replication. It has been shown that the N-terminal region of Cdc6p is targeted for degradation after phosphorylation by Cyclin Dependent Kinase (CDK). Here we show that Mck1p, a yeast homologue of GSK-3 kinase, is also required for Cdc6 degradation through a distinct mechanism. Cdc6 is an unstable protein and is accumulated in the nucleus only during G1 …

A Study Of The Effect Of Heat-Treatment On The Morphology Of Nafion Ionomer Dispersion For Use In The Passive Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (Dmfc), Ting Yuan, Haifeng Zhang, Zhiqing Zou, Sufia Khatun, Daniel Akins, Yara Adam, Sophia Suarez

Publications and Research

Aggregation in heat-treated Nafion ionomer dispersion and 117 membrane are investigated by 1H and 19F Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectra, spin-lattice relaxation time, and self-diffusion coefficient measurements. Results demonstrate that heat-treatment affects the average Nafion particle size in aqueous dispersions. Measurements on heat-treated Nafion 117 membrane show changes in the 1H isotropic chemical shift and no significant changes in ionic conductivity. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of prepared cathode catalyst layer containing the heat-treated dispersions reveals that the surface of the electrode with the catalyst ink that has been pretreated at ca. 80 °C exhibits a compact and uniform morphology. …

On The Social Construction Of Hellenism Cold War Narratives Of Modernity, Development And Democracy For Greece, Despina Lalaki

Publications and Research

Hellenism is one of those overarching, ever-changing narratives always subject to historical circumstances, intellectual fashions and political needs. Conversely, it is fraught with meaning and conditioning powers, enabling and constraining imagination and practical life. In this essay I tease out the hold that the idea of Hellas has had on post-war Greece and I explore the ways in which the American anti-communist rhetoric and discussions about political and economic stabilization appropriated and rearticulated Hellenism. Central to this history of transformations are the archaeologists; the archaeologists as intellectuals, as producers of culture who, while stepping in and out of their disciplinary …

What Can Phages Tell Us About Host-Pathogen Coevolution?, John J. Dennehy

Publications and Research

The outcomes of host-parasite interactions depend on the coevolutionary forces acting upon them, but because every host-parasite relation is enmeshed in a web of biotic and abiotic interactions across a heterogeneous landscape, host-parasite coevolution has proven difficult to study. Simple laboratory phage-bacteria microcosms can ameliorate this difficulty by allowing controlled, well-replicated experiments with a limited number of interactors. Genetic, population, and life history data obtained from these studies permit a closer examination of the fundamental correlates of host-parasite coevolution. In this paper, I describe the results of phage-bacteria coevolutionary studies and their implications for the study of host-parasite coevolution. Recent …

Naturalization Ceremonies And The Role Of Immigrants In The American Nation, Sofya Aptekar

Publications and Research

Although immigration is an essential element in the American national story, it presents difficulties for constructing national membership and national identity in terms of shared intrinsic values. In this article, I analyze speeches made at naturalization ceremonies during two time periods (1950 – 1970 and 2003 – present) to examine the evolving roles of immigrants, as articulated to immigrants themselves. Naturalization ceremonies are a unique research site because the usually implied nationalist content is made explicit to brand new members of the nation. I find a shift in the framing from immigrants as potential liabilities and weak links in the …

Combining Behavioral Weight Loss Treatment And A Commercial Program: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Angela Marinilli Pinto, Joseph L. Fava, Debra A. Hoffmann, Rena R. Wing

Publications and Research

Commercial weight loss programs such as Weight Watchers (WW) offer widely recognized and accessible treatment, but typically produce weight losses that are modest relative to professionally delivered programs. This study tested the hypothesis that a novel weight loss approach that combined the fundamental components of professionally delivered behavioral weight loss (BWL) treatment with the existing WW program would produce better weight losses than WW alone; no differences were expected between the novel treatment and BWL alone. Participants were 141 overweight and obese adults (90% women, 67% non-White, mean age = 49.7 ± 9.2 years, mean BMI = 36.2 ± 5.5 …

What Studios Do, Eliot Bates

Publications and Research

This essay is focused around a seemingly simple question – what do recording studios do? First, a clarification. I am not primarily asking “what are studios” or “what do people do in studios,” two comparatively straightforward questions that are tangentially addressed in academic and trade writing. Rather, I wish to consider some of the ways in which the studio itself shapes the kinds of social and musical performances and interactions that transpire within. I contend that studios must be understood simultaneously as acoustic environments, as meeting places, as container technologies, as a system of constraints on vision, sound and mobility, …

Intervening To Reduce Sedentary Behaviors And Childhood Obesity Among School-Age Youth: A Systematic Review Of Randomized Trials, May May Leung, Alen Agaronov, Kateryna Grytsenko, Ming-Chin Yeh

Publications and Research

Objective. To assess the effectiveness of interventions that focus on reducing sedentary behavior (SB) among school-age youth and to identify elements associated with interventions' potential for translation into practice settings. Methods. A comprehensive literature search was conducted using 4 databases for peer-reviewed studies published between 1980 and April 2011. Randomized trials, which lasted at least 12 weeks, aimed at decreasing SB among children aged 6 to 19 years were identified. Results. Twelve studies were included; 3 focused only on SB, 1 focused on physical activity (PA), 6 were combined SB and PA interventions, and 2 studies targeted SB, PA, and …

Development Of A Ground Based Remote Sensing Approach For Direct Evaluation Of Aerosol-Cloud Interaction, Bomidi Lakshmi Madhavan, Yuzhe He, Yonghua Wu, Barry Gross, Fred Moshary, Samir Ahmed

Publications and Research

The possible interaction and modification of cloud properties due to aerosols is one of the most poorly understood mechanisms within climate studies, resulting in the most significant uncertainty as regards radiation budgeting. In this study, we explore direct ground based remote sensing methods to assess the Aerosol-Cloud Indirect Effect directly, as space-borne retrievals are not directly suitable for simultaneous aerosol/cloud retrievals. To illustrate some of these difficulties, a statistical assessment of existing multispectral imagers on geostationary (e.g., GOES)/Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite retrievals of the Cloud Droplet Effective Radius (Reff) showed significant biases especially at larger solar zenith angles, …

Government Information For Your Mobile Phone, Rebecca Arzola, Debbie Rabina

Publications and Research

A tasting menu of selected apps, created by U.S. government agencies, that provides information accessible from your mobile phone.

Students As Donors To University Archives: A Study Of Student Perceptions With Recommendations, Jessica Wagner, Debbi A. Smith

Publications and Research

Most of the literature that explores the relationship between students and university archives focuses on how to integrate archival materials into the undergraduate curriculum. Little exists that analyzes student perceptions of the types of materials that are found in archives; even less discusses how to induce students to donate materials that document life on campus. This case study examines student perceptions of various aspects of university archives, with the goal of developing better methods of reaching out to encourage donation of student life materials.

Competition Between Conjugation And M13 Phage Infection In Escherichia Coli In The Absence Of Selection Pressure: A Kinetic Study, Zhenmao Wan, Noel L. Goddard

Publications and Research

Inter- and intraspecies horizontal gene transfer enabled by bacterial secretion systems is a powerful mechanism for bacterial genome plasticity. The type IV secretion system of Escherichia coli, encoded by the F plasmid, enables cell-to-cell contact and subsequent DNA transfer known as conjugation. Conjugation is compromised by phage infection that specifically targets the secretion machinery. Hence, the use of phages to regulate the spread of genes, such as acquired antibiotic resistance or as general biosanitation agents, has gained interest. To predict the potential efficacy, the competition kinetics must first be understood. Using quantitative PCR to enumerate genomic loci in a resource-limited …

Multiculturalist Liberalism And Harms To Women: Lookin Through The Issue Of "The Veil", Anissa Helie, Marie Ashe

Publications and Research

Hélie & Ashe law review writing raises and responds to a reformulated and broadened version of Susan Okin’s 1999 inquiry, Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women? It identifies social and political developments, as well as legal and theoretical developments, that have occurred in the 21^st century and that demand that reformulation.

Not limiting itself (as did Okin’s question) to interrogating the relationship between women’s equality interests and interests in “religious freedom” advanced by minority-religious groups, Hélie & Ashe is the broader inquiry, critical for liberal theory of the 21^st century which has been greatly affected by the “ethos …

But Are They Connected?: A Report On The Queens College Technology Survey Of The Use Of Ubiquitous Tools For Learning, Eva M. Fernández, Michelle C. Fraboni

Publications and Research

The casual observer of the student population at Queens College (an urban, public, predominantly undergraduate campus) is awed by the ubiquity of technology, offering students the ability to communicate and participate in learning anytime, anywhere. They text, email, facebook, and tweet all day long. They have nearly instant access to the digital tools that have been touted as changing teaching and learning at all levels of education. With over 80% of our population born in or after 1980, there is an assumption that these digital natives intuitively know about and prefer digital tools for learning. With this in mind, and …