What I’ve Found at the Market (and Other Places, Too)

Postcard from Joy Nelson, during the Linfield College Semester Abroad Program in Aix-en-Provence, Franc

The Hybrid Teacher: Expanding the Vocal Pedagogy Regime

The world of professional vocal training is becoming more and more eclectic and demanding in the United States. Academic music programs, and subsequently, vocal and vocal pedagogy programs are still predominantly classical in 2022, due to the American university system’s historical roots. In the 21st century, the commercial music industry is at an all-time high. However, in contemporary academia, vocal and vocal pedagogy degree programs remain primarily classical. In recent years, voice professionals have been discussing the implications of academic programs updating their programs and pedagogy in order to include professional CCM and hybrid training. Classical, CCM and hybrid singers need assured longterm vocal health, proficiency, and artistry via pedagogically-sound vocal training. The question is, “How will more voice teachers will be trained in hybrid techniques to meet this need?” Changes to academic courses and requirements are necessary to ensure that hybrid (classical and nonclassical) vocal pedagogy is offered more broadly to all voice-teachers-in-training. Collegiate vocal pedagogy must make a greater effort to meet industry standards for singers of every musical style, moving away from predominantly classical styles to a hybrid system which acknowledges classical and nonclassical styles as equally valid and challenging. The hybrid voice teacher understands classical and nonclassical singing and can modify teaching techniques to suit the interests and abilities of their voice students. Training for the hybrid voice teacher must begin in academia. Academic training for the hybrid teacher ensures that more voice teachers are working, a broader range of future voice professionals have solid technical foundations, and industry standards for all styles of singing are acknowledged, respected, and upheld by professional voice teachers. This dissertation will look at the understanding of scientific function as being of prime importance in teaching healthy singing. In studying classical and belted vocal techniques functionally, many differences are noticeable in voice science. The first part of this paper will focus on current research and theory related to functional belting and functional classical singing techniques, and their application to various sung musical styles. By comparing functional singing during classical versus belted technique, one can denote any differences in posture, breath, registration, resonance, and acoustics. The second part of the paper offers applied exercises and explanations for in-studio application of the information offered in Part I. These exercises mirror the pedagogical areas explored in Part I (posture and breathing, registration, resonance, and acoustics), offering training techniques that acknowledge technical differences between classical and belted singing inside the hybrid studio. To close Part II, vocal cross-training implications will be explored

Observations and modelling of a large optical flare on AT Microscopii

Spectroscopic observations covering the wavelength range 3600--4600\AA are presented for a large flare on the late type M dwarf AT Mic (dM4.5e). A procedure to estimate the physical parameters of the flaring plasma has been used which assumes a simplified slab model of the flare based on a comparison of observed and computed Balmer decrements. With this procedure we have determined the electron density, electron temperature, optical thickness and temperature of the underlying source for the impulsive and gradual phases of the flare. The magnitude and duration of the flare allows us to trace the physical parameters of the response of the lower atmosphere. In order to check our derived values we have compared them with other methods. In addition, we have also applied our procedure to a stellar and a solar flare for which parameters have been obtained using other techniques.Comment: 11 pages, 8 tables, accepted by A&

Critical Empowerment Frameworks Paramount to Social Justice Work

As we continue to navigate the complex challenges of a pandemic and the urgent need for racial justice, social work faculty are well positioned to train the next generation of social workers in human rights work and structural change movements. Authors discuss how engaging key critical empowerment frameworks that include critical race theory, structural competency, together with a decolonizing and transdisciplinary lens within community-engaged research and practice can provide social work students models for collective impact. Leveraging university-community partnerships to directly provide faculty mentorship around human rights work will also be discussed. One author has been working with the institution’s law school and their Neighborhood Legal Assistance Project to provide support, legal resources, and advocacy. She has also co-founded and is developing a Chicago-based coalition to address intimate partner violence-induced brain injury. The second author has helped start and develop two coalitions to advance a coordinated structural response involving the provision of mental health resource support and psychosocial forensic asylum assessments within immigrant communities. Authors also discuss how students have been engaged in health equity work through a racial and healing justice initiative that values and provides training around healing circles within indigenous communities and communities of color. Through these rich learning experiences, students internalize the value of critical empowerment frameworks that inform participatory approaches in collaboration and coalition building that are essential to social justice work and the process of social and structural change

Giving and sharing in the computer-mediated economy

The paper examines how digital technology mediates the behaviour of consumers in three online systems that facilitate offline gift giving and sharing (Freecycle, Couchsurfing, and Landshare). Findings derived from a netnography and depth interviews reveal how technology is used to enact and influence the management of identity, partner selection, ritual normalisation, and negotiation of property rights. The findings have significant implications for the design and management of systems that encourage non-monetary forms of collaborative consumption

Socio-demographic profile and challenges faced by the transgender community in Kollam district, Kerala-a clinic-based cross-sectional study

Background: Gender presentations and social categories vary across cultures, and many terms are used to describe individuals who live between or outside a male-female binary. Transgender is a term used to describe a person whose gender identity or gender expression differs from their biological sex. They face much discrimination that denies them equal access to key social goods, such as employment, health care, education, and housing. They are also marginalized in society, making them one of the vulnerable groups at risk of becoming socially excluded. We aimed to look into the socio-demographic profile and challenges faced by transgender and whether there is a change in the attitude of the people of Kerala towards them. Methods: From transgender people registered under Suraksha Clinic in Kollam, 100 subjects were taken up for the study. A semi-structured questionnaire in the local language was used to collect information. Results: 57% of transgender people had a high school education, and only 4% completed higher education. Initially, 62% faced hesitance from their families in acknowledging their transgender identity, and 20% were rejected from their family. However, 40% of the family members have now accepted them as transgender because of changes in laws and reduced stigma in the community. In their parental home, 46% were discriminated compared to the other siblings. Transgender faced discrimination from the health sector as well. It was found that 52% were satisfied with the health support system of the country, while 28% were not satisfied. Conclusions: Transgender people face many problems in their daily life. Most transgender people believe that legal measures, support from transgender organizations, and social awareness programmes could help them fetch more social acceptance

Writing in Britain and Ireland, c. 400 to c. 800

No abstract available

COMPUTER SKILLS AS CORRELATES OF USE OF ONLINE INFORMATION RESOURCES BY LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE UNDERGRADUATES OF UNIVERSITY OF BENIN, EDO STATE, NIGERIA.

ABSTRACT The study focused on computer skills as correlates of use of online information resources by Library and Information Science undergraduates of University of Benin, Edo State. The study was guided by three research questions and two null hypotheses. A correlation research design was adopted for study. A census study technique was adopted to cover the entire population of 273 Library and Information Science undergraduates of University of Benin, Edo State. A rating scale titled “Students’ Computer Skills and Use of Online Information Resources” (SCSUOIR) was used as data collection instrument. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer research question one, while Pearson (r) statistics was used to answer research questions two and three. The hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics of simple linear correlation at 0.05 level of significance. Findings showed that: the students use online information resources to a high extent; there is a positive relationship between students’ operational skills and their use of online information resources; and there is a positively very low extent of relationship between students’ strategic retrieval skills and their use of online information resources. It was therefore, recommended among others that since the use of online information resources is highly influenced by the LIS undergraduates’ level of computer skills (operational and strategic skills), the university library management should be organizing regular training for students on the acquisition of these skills

"The Book of Negroes’ illustrated edition: circulating African-Canadian history through the Middlebrow"

This article examines the 2009 deluxe illustrated edition of Lawrence Hill’s Commonwealth Writers’ Prize– and Canada Reads–winning novel The Book of Negroes, originally published in 2007. It relates the story of Aminata, a West African girl kidnapped and sold into slavery, and her experiences on an indigo plantation in the American south, followed by further displacements to Charleston, Nova Scotia, Sierra Leone, and London. In New York, as the Revolutionary War comes to a close, Aminata becomes the scribe for the Book of Negroes, documenting the Black Loyalists, as well as the slaves and indentured servants of white Loyalists, granted passage by the British to Canada. Hill has commented that the Book of Negroes is an important document about which Canadians are largely ignorant. This desire to circulate knowledge about African-Canadian history through the novel is particularly manifest in the illustrated edition of 2009, where a photograph of the Book of Negroes features prominently, along with countless other images and captions which supplement and interrupt Hill’s narrative. This article considers the significance and implications of this “keepsake” or “souvenir” edition, particularly its circulation of knowledge about African-Canadian history through visual pleasure