Progressing Issues of Social Importance Through the Work of Indigenous Artists: A Social Impact Evaluation of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation's Pilot Community Inspiration Program

In 2014, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) launched a new initiative, the Community Inspiration Program (CIP), which is rooted in the understanding that arts and cultures projects have an important role to play in motivating community engagement and supporting social change.This report considers the social impacts of the 2014 CIP projects—what effects did they have on communities and on the issues, conversations, and connections that are critical in those communities? Its secondary purpose is to provide the NACF with ideas for how to improve its grant making in support of arts for community change.In our usage, for a CIP project to have "social impact," it should make a difference in communities. "Social change" is the idea of moving in a desired direction on an issue of community importance and social relevance. Thus, a project has social impact if it progresses social change

Rhetorical (re)inscription practices among black intercollegiate football participants in the era of name, image and likeness

When intercollegiate athletic participants were permitted the right to profit off of their name, image and likeness (NIL), the landscape of college sports was fundamentally changed. This qualitative explanatory case study investigated one consequence of that change: the discourse of amateurism. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has historically identified participants in the athletic programs it oversees with the word “student-athlete.” In the years since the word was first introduced, its meaning has generally been static. In short, the linguistic sign “student-athlete” has been signified in and by the discourse to reflect the amateur status of collegiate sport participants, emphasizing the participants’ student identities over their athletic identities (Byers, 1995; Smith, 2021; Southall et al., 2023). Such an emphasis has historically been wielded by the NCAA and its member institutions as justification for the revenue generated by the labor of sport participants, who are not paid a typical salary or wage (Bok, 2008; Hawkins, 2010). Where the NCAA and its member institutions generate the most profit from this free labor centers in big-time college sports, namely in men’s Division I football bowl-eligible programs (Zimbalist, 2023). Most often, these program participants are Black and African American men (NCAA Demographics Database, 2024). However, now equipped with the ability to be paid as a direct result of their participation in collegiate sport, whether or discursive meaning of the word “student-athlete” truly reflects the experiences of the supposed amateurs is highly debatable. Thus, this study aimed to understand how Black males participating in big-time college football programs while engaged in NIL activities perceive of their identity as both students and athletes. Semi-structured interviews with four Black men participating in Southeastern Conference (SEC) football programs while engaged in NIL activities were analyzed using an a priori coding strategy. That strategy allowed for the application of African American rhetorical theory to best understand the ways the participants signified the meaning of the word “student-athlete” alongside the words “student” and “athlete.” Drawing from the theoretical work offered by Gates (1989), the signifyin(g) processes of the four participants were analyzed by tracing their employment of various African American rhetorical codes. Upon identification and further analysis of the ways such codes were implemented in communicative events, a rhetorical analysis of their usage was performed. While the four study participants each self-identified as a student, an athlete, and a student-athlete, a rhetorical analysis of this self-identification revealed alternative meanings of these three words. As signified by the participants, the meanings embedded in these three words starkly contrast the same three words signified within the discourse of amateurism. Specifically, the study participants signified the word “student” to mean a necessary engagement with academics; the word “athlete” to mean a physical and mental engagement in athletic activities; and the word “student-athlete” to mean a simultaneous, co-existence of both signified “student” and “athlete” activities. The findings of this study are thus offered to better contextualize the student-athlete experience, especially as it is constructed by Black men participating in big-time college football programs who financially benefit from their name, image and likeness

Methods for peptide identification by spectral comparison

BACKGROUND: Tandem mass spectrometry followed by database search is currently the predominant technology for peptide sequencing in shotgun proteomics experiments. Most methods compare experimentally observed spectra to the theoretical spectra predicted from the sequences in protein databases. There is a growing interest, however, in comparing unknown experimental spectra to a library of previously identified spectra. This approach has the advantage of taking into account instrument-dependent factors and peptide-specific differences in fragmentation probabilities. It is also computationally more efficient for high-throughput proteomics studies. RESULTS: This paper investigates computational issues related to this spectral comparison approach. Different methods have been empirically evaluated over several large sets of spectra. First, we illustrate that the peak intensities follow a Poisson distribution. This implies that applying a square root transform will optimally stabilize the peak intensity variance. Our results show that the square root did indeed outperform other transforms, resulting in improved accuracy of spectral matching. Second, different measures of spectral similarity were compared, and the results illustrated that the correlation coefficient was most robust. Finally, we examine how to assemble multiple spectra associated with the same peptide to generate a synthetic reference spectrum. Ensemble averaging is shown to provide the best combination of accuracy and efficiency. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate that when combined, these methods can boost the sensitivity and specificity of spectral comparison. Therefore they are capable of enhancing and complementing existing tools for consistent and accurate peptide identification

Developing CALL for heritage languages: The 7 Keys of the Dragon

[EN] In this article we present an interactive extensible software, The 7 Keys of the Dragon, for the teaching/learning of Albanian and Russian to students that attend primary and secondary education in Greece with the respective languages as their heritage languages. We address the key challenges we encountered during the conceptualization phase of the project development and the specific design choices we implemented in order to accommodate them. Drawing on recent research on the role of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) applications for young bilingual populations, we aimed at creating a user friendly environment with a clear pedagogical orientation. Furthermore, given that games in language learning are associated with intrinsic motivation and meaningful exposure to the target language, we have integrated a fairy-tale background narrative, a game-inspired reward system, and two cartoon-like assistant characters to stimulate the user’s involvement in the learning tasks. Five chapters for each target language were created, each comprising a text, a variety of scaffolding material and quizzes. The software is designed to provide real-time automatic correction of quizzes and allow for easy expansion with additional quizzes and texts. A separate application for teachers facilitates essay correction and commenting on the students’ language learning progress and achievements.We are grateful to Amalia Rodou-Gorou and Tania Zouravliova for creating the language materials, to Nestoras Pelesoglou for the graphic design, and to Prof. dr. Ioannis Spantidakis for providing guidance in the pedagogical design of the e-learning environment. This research was supported by the programme “Education of Immigrant and Repatriate Students” (Action 5, Deliverable 5.2.3) funded by the European Social Fund, National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) 2007-2014 and the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs of the Hellenic Republic. The usual disclaimers apply.Revithiadou, A.; Kourtis-Kazoullis, V.; Soukalopoulou, M.; Konstantoudakis, K.; Zarras, C. (2015). Developing CALL for heritage languages: The 7 Keys of the Dragon. The EuroCALL Review. 23(2):38-57. doi:10.4995/eurocall.2015.4667.SWORD385723

Spanish Heritage Language Development: A Causal-Comparative Study Exploring the Differential Effects of Heritage Versus Foreign Language Curriculum

Dual tracks - for Foreign (FL) and Heritage languages (HL) - in Spanish language programs are becoming increasingly common in U.S. higher education institutions, although most only offer HL courses for intermediate and/or advanced learners. Few universities have incorporated specialized courses for receptive bilinguals into their programs. Contradictory arguments can be found in the HL education literature regarding the type of curriculum (FL or HL) that would best serve the pedagogical needs of these students (Carreira, 2004; Lipski, 1996; Potowski, 2005).This study attempts to offer insights into this discussion by examining the effects of these two types of curricula on the written and oral language development of three groups of learners: two groups of HL learners enrolled in HL and FL courses, and a group of FL learners taking the same FL courses. The purpose of this study is four-fold: 1) delineate a profile of receptive bilinguals; 2) measure changes in oral and written production and other language-related variables after one semester of instruction; 3) examine the students' level of satisfaction with the language curriculum; and 4) uncover linguistic differences between FL and HL learners. The data collection consisted of series of written and oral-elicitation tasks and online questionnaires at the beginning and end of the semester.The results showed that all groups made significant gains in writing fluency and complexity but only the HL group in the HL course significantly improved their writing accuracy. Both HL groups made greater gains in oral fluency and complexity than the FL group but the HL group in the HL course outperformed both groups in syntactic complexity gains. The HL group in the HL course showed the highest level of satisfaction and the greatest improvement in self-confidence and language attitudes but no differences in language use outside the classroom and self-evaluation of language abilities. The results offer implications for the inclusion of receptive bilinguals in HL programs, their language placement, and pedagogical and curricular practices most suitable for these students in the HL classroom

Natural colloids are the dominant factor in the sedimentation of nanoparticles

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