Illicit literacy and legitimate learning: examining the situated learning experiences of graffiti writers in a small, northern California town

This thesis examines the informal learning experiences of proficient graffiti writers living in a rural northern California community. It examines the learning pathways graffiti writers follow as they progress from a basic understanding of graffiti practices to proficiency at the craft. It utilizes a phenomenological, qualitative research approach guided by a New Literacy Studies framework. Semi-structured interviews were carried out in order to gather data from five active and expert writers. The interviews allowed the writers to describe what initially drew them to graffiti, what motivated them to continue practicing graffiti in the face of cultural barriers, and the learning strategies they engaged in to develop their graffiti writing skills. Most graffiti writers participated in social groups that grounded their practice. The writers' artistic roots, their countercultural outlooks, and their desire to have the identity of graffiti writers allowed them to attain proficiency through such means as analytical practice, participation in crews, and the use of sketch books. Barriers to proficiency included growing up in rural locales, lack of access to other proficient writers, and graffiti's illegal status. By understanding the informal learning experiences of graffiti writers, educators and policy makers can better understand the socially-negotiated learning strategies of graffiti writers as well as other out-of-school educational endeavors.Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, Education, 201

The watchdog role of newspapers: Newspaper coverage of Sinclair Broadcasting\u27s announcement to air a one-sided documentary right before the 2004 presidential election.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Greta K. Weiderman, for the Master of Arts degree in Mass Communication and Media Arts, presented on Aug. 21, 2009, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: THE WATCHDOG ROLE OF NEWSPAPERS: NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF SINCLAIR BROADCASTING\u27S ANNOUNCEMENT TO AIR A ONE-SIDED DOCUMENTARY RIGHT BEFORE THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. William Babcock This thesis is a content analysis examining newspaper coverage of Sinclair Broadcasting\u27s announcement that it planned to air a program titled Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal 13 days before the November 2004 presidential election. Sinclair Broadcast Group ordered its 61 stations to preempt regular programming and run the show, which attacked then presidential candidate John Kerry\u27s activism against the Vietnam War (Jensen, 2004). The film was to be presented as news programming. This study examines how 41 newspapers in cities with Sinclair television stations covered the announcement to run the Stolen Honor documentary and the situation following it in news stories, editorials and columns. It also examines if the ownership or circulation of the newspapers was related to the way they covered the controversy and whether these newspapers served their watchdog functions. The results indicated that there was no relationship between a newspaper\u27s performance of the watchdog role, as measured by the watchdog index, and its circulation or ownership. But the study did find, however, that as a whole, the newspapers performed their watchdog role

The effects of acute beetroot juice ingestion on upper and lower body muscular power during weightlifting exercise in men

Nitrate-rich beetroot juice (BR) supplementation improves movements with high-velocity and high-power muscle contractions which may be due to enhanced blood flow, oxygenation and contractile function in type II muscle fibers. The literature has focused predominantly on the effects of BR supplementation running and cycling performance, but its efficacy in resistance exercise, a modality that relies on type II muscle fibers, has limited data. Furthermore, it is unknown how supplementation strategies impact the physiological and ergogenic effects of BR during exercise. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess whether single or multi-day nitrate ingestion will improve performance and muscle oxygenation during resistance exercise. In a double-blind, randomized crossover design, 14 healthy recreationally active men will report to the laboratory for five occasions over a 4-wk period. On the first visit, participants will undergo a 1 repetition-max (1RM) test for back squat and bench press. Subsequently, participants will complete two 4-day experimental trials where they will consume 2 x 70mL doses per day of either nitrate-depleted placebo (PL) or concentrated nitrate-rich BR. On experimental days of each supplementation period (day 1 and 4), subjects will consume 140 mL of their allocated beverage 2.5-h before exercise. On day 2 and 3 of the supplementation period, participants will consume one 70 mL beverage in the morning and one in the evening. On experimental days, participants performed a power protocol, consisting of 2 sets x 2 repetitions of back squats and bench press at 70%1RM followed by repetition-to-failures at 60%1RM. Muscle oxygenation, power and velocity were assessed during exercise using near infrared spectroscopy and a linear transducer, respectively. A subset of data has been collected (n=9) and data collection is ongoing

The effects of acute beetroot juice ingestion on upper and lower body muscular power during weightlifting exercise in men.

Dietary nitrate supplementation, administered per beetroot juice (BR), has been shown to enhance performance while cycling and running. BR has enhanced skeletal muscle contraction and blood flow within type II fibers which are recruited during high-velocity and high-power contractions. However, it is unknown whether BR influences alternative forms of exercise, such as resistance exercise. The purpose of this study is to assess whether BR supplementation influences neuromuscular performance (muscle power and speed), and repetitions-to-failure in healthy, recreationally active men. In a double-blind, randomized crossover design, 14 males will be recruited to complete two 4-day supplementation periods in which they consume 2 x 70mL nitrate-depleted placebo (PL) or nitrate-rich BR per day. Subjects will report to the lab 5 times over a 3-to 4-wk period. Subjects will complete a 1 repetition max (1RM) test and familiarization to the protocol. On experimental days subjects will complete a warm up and then a protocol to assess explosive performance, consisting of 2 sets x 2 repetitions of back squat at 70% 1RM using a cadence that emphasizes an explosive concentric phase. Skeletal muscle oxygenation will be measured using near-infrared spectroscopy and neuromuscular performance will be measured during exercise using a linear transducer. Following a 5-min recovery period, subjects performed 1 set x repetition-to-failure at 60% 1RM to determine muscular endurance. This protocol will be repeated in the bench press exercise. Data was analyzed in a subset of n = 9. There were no significant differences in resistance exercise performance between conditions; however, data collection is ongoing and results are currently underpowered. These data could provide insight for dietary nitrate as an ergogenic aid and inform both supplementation guidelines and recommendations for enhancing resistance training performance in men

Effects of Dietary Nitrate Supplementation on Performance and Muscle Oxygenation during Resistance Exercise in Men

The purpose of the current study was to assess the effects of acute and short-term nitrate (NO3−)-rich beetroot juice (BR) supplementation on performance outcomes and muscle oxygenation during bench press and back squat exercise. Fourteen recreationally active males were assigned in a randomized, double-blind, crossover design to supplement for 4 days in two conditions: (1) NO3−-depleted beetroot juice (PL; 0.10 mmol NO3− per day) and (2) BR (11.8 mmol NO3− per day). On days 1 and 4 of the supplementation periods, participants completed 2 sets of 2 × 70%1RM interspersed by 2 min of recovery, followed by one set of repetitions-to-failure (RTF) at 60%1RM for the determination of muscular power, velocity, and endurance. Quadriceps and pectoralis major tissue saturation index (TSI) were measured throughout exercise. Plasma [NO3−] and nitrite ([NO2−]) were higher after 1 and 4 days of supplementation with BR compared to PL (p \u3c 0.05). Quadriceps and pectoralis major TSI were not different between conditions (p \u3e 0.05). The number of RTF in bench press was 5% greater after acute BR ingestion compared to PL (PL: 23 ± 4 vs. BR: 24 ± 5, p \u3c 0.05). There were no differences between BR and PL for RTF for back squat or power and velocity for back squat or bench press (p \u3e 0.05). These data improve understanding on the ergogenic potential of BR supplementation during resistance exercise

FAIR Bioinformatics computation and data management: FAIRDOM and the Norwegian Digital Life initiative

The FAIR data principles state that data should be Findable (and citable), Accessible (with appropriate caveats for sensitive data), Interoperable (able to be exchanged or combined, typically as a result of using community standards) and Reusable (can be reused later or reproduced from a publication). The FAIRDOM Research Infrastructure (http://fair-dom.org) has been fostering software and community activities to support the adoption of FAIR data management practices since 2008. The SEEK software component of FAIRDOM provides a web-based yellow pages (of programmes, projects, institutions and people), a catalogue of their research assets (data, models, SOPs, samples, organisms, publications etc), and the metadata associated with them. A common, related view of the assets is organised using ISA (Investigation, Study, Assay/Analysis).The Norwegian e-Infrastructure for Life Sciences (NeLS) is developed and supported by ELIXIR-Norway as a national infrastructure for bioinformatics, providing storage, data sharing and analysis tools (using Galaxy) and connecting to the national data storage platform, NIRD, for long term storage.FAIRDOM, DLN and ELIXIR-Norway teamed up to support projects in the Digital Life initiative with their FAIR data management. The SEEK and NeLS platforms were adapted to provide functional linking for storing and sharing data sets from NeLS to SEEK. Linking up bioinformatics compute capabilities, with long-term storage and publication of the data

Criteria for Constructing and Using an Ada Embedded System Testbed

. The purpose of this report is to list some of the criteria used in five aspects of the project: the hardware configuration, the software configuration, the real-time application, the Ada real-time experiments, and the benchmarking and instrumentation techniques. Each criterion will include a rationale. Each of the criteria listed in this report will be categorized as either essential, highly desirable, or desirable. 1. Introduction The Ada Embedded Systems Testbed (AEST) Project was initiated in October 1986 and will be continued in 1987-88. The purpose of the AEST Project is to investigate some of the critical issues in using Ada for real-time embedded applications, particularly the extent and quality of the run-time support facility provided by Ada implementations. The Ada run-time is an execution environment that provides services such as process management, storage management, and exception handling for supporting the execution of Ada programs. These services were, in the past, ..