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Naming in Bilingual Youth With Epilepsy
No full textNeuropsychological evaluation, including assessment of naming, is part of the multidisciplinary pre-surgical planning process for patients with epilepsy that aids in the lateralization and localization of seizure onset. Impaired time-based auditory naming is associated with dominant, typically left, hemisphere seizure onset among monolingual pediatric patients. While impaired naming is also associated with dominant hemisphere seizure onset among monolingual adults, this relationship has not been supported among bilingual adults. Further, healthy bilingual youth and adults demonstrate weaker naming in each of their languages relative to monolingual counterparts. Naming among bilingual pediatric patients with epilepsy and its relationship with the lateralization of seizure onset has yet to be explored. The current study aimed to address this gap in the literature by examining data from a multisite study of pediatric epilepsy patients who underwent neuropsychological assessment as part of pre-surgical evaluations. The sample included 128 monolingual and 40 bilingual patients with epilepsy, a subset of whom had unilateral seizure onset. All patients completed the Children’s Auditory and Visual Naming Test. Results indicated that bilingual patients had weaker auditory and visual naming than their monolingual counterparts. Among the bilingual patients, those who started learning English at a younger age had stronger auditory naming. Among patients with unilateral seizure onset, time-based auditory naming was weaker among those with left hemisphere seizure onset relative to right hemisphere seizure onset, irrespective of bilingual or monolingual status. Among monolingual patients, impaired time-based auditory naming (i.e., \u3e1.5 S.D. below the normative mean) was predictive of left hemisphere seizure onset. Among bilingual patients, most had naming within the impaired range and this was not predictive of the hemisphere of seizure onset. Overall, findings indicate an impact of bilingual status on naming among bilingual youth with epilepsy. Clinically, impaired naming among bilingual youth with epilepsy should be interpreted carefully and does not necessarily reflect left hemisphere seizure onset. Further work is needed in larger samples to establish clinically meaningful thresholds of naming impairment for bilingual youth with epilepsy
Translating the Fantastic in Old Norse-Icelandic Literature
No full textThis dissertation expands upon two recent academic developments: one, the increased interest in translations as active sites of cultural contact, and two, the emerging critical approaches to the fantastic/ supernatural elements in texts. Interrogating translations, this dissertation is a foray into the Global Middle Ages as it centers the connective networks that allows texts and ideas to cross cultural and linguistic borders. By focusing on translations, I attempt to center the medieval Norse’s outward-looking perspectives. In the first two chapters, I locate two key sites of translation: the first is at King Hákon Hákonarson’s royal court in thirteenth century Norway, and the second is Þingeyrar monastery in late twelfth/early thirteenth century Iceland. In these chapters I analyze a single translation—Marie de France’s Bisclavret into the Old Norse prose Bisclaretz lioð and Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Prophetiae Merlini into the Old Norse-Icelandic verse Merlínusspá—and argue that by placing each translation within its cultural and ideological context, we can read the translation as an active site of cultural mediation in which the translators renegotiate the medieval Norwegians and Icelanders’ relationship to the cultural centers of Europe. Both translations attempt to draw the medieval Norse closer to the cultural center of Europe by synthesizing their own literary traditions within their translations. The third chapter expands an understanding of translatio to include Old Norse travel narratives, and it analyzes Yngvars saga víðförla and the Vínland sagas to illustrate how medieval Icelanders negotiated their own positionality in the world by exploring these far-off lands in their literature. Throughout the dissertation, I argue that medieval Norwegians and Icelanders actively sought out European literature to translate, and reading their translations within their historical contexts reveals a sustained effort to re-position the Nordic world as centered, rather than marginal. I contend that the medieval Norse were acutely aware of their own marginality and their efforts to re-negotiate that position within the global space is attempted, in part, in their careful translations and adaptations of medieval European literature
Calhoun, Will
No full textSummary by Eliza Anderson.
Will Calhoun is a Grammy award-winning drummer, producer, songwriter, and Bronx native.
He was born in Brooklyn but moved to the Northeast Bronx with his parents shortly after. He attended Lutheran schools as a kid in an Italian neighborhood, where he recalls having to run away from men with bats getting to and from school before switching to Evander Childs for high school. At Evander, he encountered Drummer’s Collective and Horacee Arnold, who introduced him to musicians like Elvin Jones and took him to jazz clubs in the city.
Calhoun’s first introduction to music came from his father’s international record collection. From 10 years old he would watch musicians perform at Haffen Park and credits Errol “Pumpkin” Bedward for merging music and rap into Hip Hop. At 16 years old, he made the decision to become a drummer, studying under Horacee Arnold, Tommy Campbell, Kenwood Dennard, Lenny Nelson, and Ed Thigpen. During his high school summers, he traveled around the boroughs playing drums for the Parks Department in a band called “Fun Shine.”
He attended Berklee College of Music for engineering and recording and played in the band Dark Sarcasm, where he started to experiment with production and write and record his own material. While playing with Harry Belafonte and Brooklyn musicians in college, Calhoun was introduced to Vernon Reid, the guitarist of Living Colour. In 1986, a year after he graduated from Berklee, Reid asked him to join the band as their drummer. They were signed to Epic Records shortly after and recorded their first album, Vivid in 1988. Calhoun talks about the spiritual connections between African music and jazz and rock, but also about the unique environment and energy of the 1980s as Living Colour was starting out. He says it was like “a second renaissance,” with the convergence of rock and roll, rap, film, and theater that connected artists closely with their influences.
Link to Video Interview - Part 1: http://cdm17265.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/baahp/id/37
Link to Video Interview - Part 2: http://cdm17265.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/baahp/id/4
Identification and Characterization of Naturally Derived Splicealtering Compounds and Their Potential Impact on Individuals With Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome
No full textHutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant disease primarily caused by a C to T transition in the 1824th coding nucleotide of the LMNA gene. This mutation creates a cryptic splice donor site in exon 11 of LMNA, resulting in the production of a new LMNA transcript that lacks the terminal 150 nucleotides of exon 11. This shorter transcript encodes a protein called progerin that becomes permanently anchored to the inner nuclear membrane, resulting in nuclear malformation, leading to global changes in nuclear structure and function. Increasing the understanding of how small molecules influence the production of the progerin-encoding transcript is paramount in the search for new therapeutic modalities for the HGPS population.I present here two small molecules, trans-resveratrol and luteolin, isolated from plant extracts of commonly consumed foods that exhibit the ability to alter the splicing of LMNA transcripts. Trans-resveratrol modulated the splicing of LMNA transcripts resulting in an increase in the production of the LMNAΔ150 transcript at the expense of the production of the LMNAWT transcript in HEK293 cells transfected with a LMNA minigene carrying the c.C1824T HGPS-causing mutation and in HGPS patient-derived lymphocyte cell lines. Furthermore, I observed an increase in the progerin/lamin A protein ratio in trans-resveratrol treated HGPS lymphocyte cell lines. Trans-resveratrol treatment also suppressed the protein levels of the serine and arginine-rich splicing factor 3 (SRSF3). Suppression of SRSF3 levels using targeting siRNA mimicked the change in splicing of minigene-derived LMNA transcripts I observed in transresveratrol treated HEK293 cells. Suppression of the trans-resveratrol-mediated decrease in SRSF3 levels through overexpressing SRSF3 in the presence of trans-resveratrol inhibited the trans-resveratrol induced increase in LMNAΔ150 transcript levels, indicating that trans-resveratrol mediates its ability to alter LMNA splicing, in part, through suppressing SRSF3 levels.Similar to what I observed with trans-resveratrol, luteolin treatment of HEK293 cells transfected with a LMNA minigene carrying a HGPS-causing mutation and in HGPS lymphocyte cell lines resulted in a change in LMNA splicing to favor the production of the LMNAΔ150 transcript relative to the LMNAWT transcript. Luteolin also induced an increase in the progerin/lamin A protein ratio in HGPS lymphocyte cell lines. I further explored the mechanism by which luteolin exerts its ability to modulate LMNA splicing and determined that luteolin has no impact on nuclear levels of the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 (hnRNP A1) or the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A2/B1 (hnRNP A2/B1). Furthermore, siRNAmediated suppression of hnRNP A1 and hnRNP A2/B1 resulted in no significant change in LMNA splicing in HEK293 cells transfected with a LMNA minigene carrying the most common HGPS-causing mutation. These results taken together provide no evidence that luteolin modulates the RNA splicing process through impacting the activity of hnRNP A1 or hnRNP A2/B1. The findings of this thesis reveal the underlying importance of understanding whether what the HGPS population is consuming is influencing the progression of their disease
What About Your Friends: Using a CFG to Make CRSE Instructional Approaches Practical and Palpable in Secondary Classrooms
No full textThe purpose of this study is to address the lack and inconsistency of culturally responsive and sustaining education instructional practices in Bronx high school classrooms. Many school leaders do not clearly understand what CRSE is and have received little training in this area, despite the expectations communicated by New York State. The aim of this study is to improve principals’ support of culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogical practices and decrease their variation across classrooms by examining the effects of district-led learner-centered professional development support on school leader implementation of CRSE instructional practices. A Critical Friends Group structure partnered with a consultancy protocol was used to support leaders in peer observations across schools, deep reflection, and constructive feedback. This five-month mixed methods study was evaluated using analytic memos, field notes, exit ticket responses, documents collected, and a pre and post self-reflection rubric derived from The Leadership Academy’s Culturally Responsive Leadership Guide: A Framework for School System Leaders (The Leadership Academy, 2022) and the researcher’s prompts. While exit tickets, analytic memos, and field notes suggested that the participants were highly satisfied with working in a CFG and felt it created accountability and a consortium of trust, self-reflection quantitative data indicated that the leaders may not have changed their practice. Furthermore, the study suggested that engaging in across-school intervisitations deepened the principals\u27 understanding of CRSE instructional practices and their connection to student independent thinking. In addition, a foundation was seemingly created to support the participants in operationalizing these practices across their schools
The Impact of Mentoring for Successful Women Leaders in Higher Education
No full textEfforts to address the myriad challenges facing the world today have been dominated by White men at the exclusion of women, particularly Black, indigenous, and women of color. To address the gender inequity in leadership, women must gain the skills necessary to be authoritative leaders. An important place for young women to develop as leaders is the college or university campus, making women’s leadership on campus a critical factor for addressing the world’s most pressing problems. This qualitative phenomenological study sought to examine if and how women in senior leadership roles at four-year institutions in New York State (i.e., Presidents, Vice Presidents, Provosts, and Vice Provosts) experienced mentoring over the course of their careers. It explores the components of mentoring that make mentoring effective or ineffective for women, especially at the highest levels of leadership in higher education. It sought to identify how mentoring fosters self-efficacy and if or how this affects the directions these women have pursued during their academic careers. The results of this study revealed the benefit of multiple mentors throughout one’s career path and that different types of mentorship—formal, informal and peer —helped women achieve success in their career path
Building the Capacity of Principals to Coach Teachers of Multilingual Language Learners
No full textThe purpose of this descriptive case study was to review practices aimed at improving literacy outcomes for multilingual language learners (MLLs). This was done by studying the internal coherence practices of a superintendent in Community School District 100 (a pseudonym), an urban school district in the northeast region of the United States. Specifically, the study demonstrated how a district school superintendent supported two principals through their process of leading pedagogues through a job-embedded implementation of learning by formulating a NIC. The school district was challenged by the disproportionality in learning outcomes for K–8 MLLs, which lagged significantly behind general education students in the English Language Arts (ELA) assessment. The superintendent was able to effectively build the capacity of principals to engage in improvement science and support the implementation of evidence-based practices in their schools by establishing a NIC that focused on MLLs. Overall, the NIC model provided an example of how a leader can implement a process for principals to learn about improvement science and engage in inquiry about their schools, with the goal of improving student learning and outcomes, especially for MLLs
Rotman, Diana
No full textDiana Rotman was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrant parents who migrated from what was Poland in the 1920s. The youngest of three children, Rotman grew up on Teller Avenue and remembers the demographics of the street being overwhelmingly Jewish until the Bronx’s demographics began shifting and more black and Hispanic families started moving in. This prompted Rotman’s family to move to Mosholu Parkway when she was twelve years old, where she lived until moving to Manhattan after graduating high school.
Rotman was raised in an Orthodox, Yiddish-speaking household, and her family attended shul, kept kosher, and changed dishes over at Passover. Rotman remembers feeling very safe in her neighborhood growing up and having a strong sense of community with other Jewish families that lived nearby.
For her education, Rotman attended Jordan Elmont Junior High before moving to PS 80 for the remainder of junior school. While her family lived close to Walton High School, Rotman attended Evander Childs High School because of her friends. She remembers Evander being predominantly Italian, a stark contrast to the Jewish majority schools she was familiar with. Additionally, Rotman remembers the limits she felt were placed on her because of her gender and becoming a secretary rather than going to college.
Overall Rotman recalls her childhood in the Bronx as being warm, gentle, family-oriented, friendly, insulated, and secure.
Keywords:
Teller Avenue, Mosholu Parkway, Orchard Beach, Orthodox, Yiddish, street games, fur business, gender, Jordan Elmont Junior High, PS 80, Evander Childs High Schoo
Michael Nelson
No full textMichael Nelson was born in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan in an area known as San Juan Hill in 1956. Nelson grew up living in the Phipps houses, a housing tenement on West 64th Street. In this oral history recorded by Fordham student Nikki Estelami, Nelson discusses his childhood in Lincoln Square, attending grade school in New York City, his connections to Good Shepherd Faith Presbyterian Church and his family\u27s relationship with Thelonious Monk
Konig, Irene
No full textIrene Konig’s mother was born in Ukraine, coming to the United States at 2 years old, while her father was born on the Lower East Side. Konig grew up with her parents and brother in a one bedroom apartment on Morris Avenue across from Taft High School. At 15 years old, they moved to East 180 St near Tremont Avenue because their apartment building was sinking and condemned by the city, before moving to the Highbridge neighborhood, later. She recalls the Bronx deteriorating, with burning buildings and trash on the streets, as she got older.
On Morris Avenue, the neighborhood was mixed with various immigrant groups and is remembered as a safe place, with older women sitting outside and watching the children play. Konig and her family would often go to Claremont Park and others in later neighborhoods, particularly to promenade on the Jewish holidays. Her family was not religious, but she later educated herself as an adult. Her mother would make classic Jewish dishes, and she had attended night college. Her father had a small advertising agency. Konig had positive memories of her public school education and was a good student, making the SP program.
After high school Konig went to City College, got a degree in art, and became a teacher, after being told that was one of the few careers women could have. Her few years teaching in the Bronx were troubled by poor experiences with administration, so that she stopped teaching and got a master’s degree in psychology. Though she got sick later in life, Konig still has created over 400 art pieces. She moved to Austin, Texas in 1976 and has raised her family there, becoming involved in keeping the community together and forming a “Damn Yankee” club for Northerners like herself. Konig remembers the Bronx fondly, attributing her upbringing there with her good values and high moral standards.
Keywords: Morris Avenue, Taft High School, Wade 117 JHS, PS 70, Claremont Park, Ukraine, Texas, City College, race, safety, crime, education, 1967-68 Teachers Strik