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Heritage Language Maintenance, Language Socialization, and Family Language Policy: An Ethnographic Case Study of a Trilingual Family
Get PDFToday, about 350 languages are spoken and signed in the United States, many of which are heritage languages (HL). A HL is a language to which a speaker has an ethnic, historical, or sentimental connection. This dissertation reports on an ethnographic case study on the language and literacy socialization practices of one trilingual family (English, Spanish, Portuguese) in their efforts to maintain Portuguese as their HL. The analysis of data focuses on three themes: (1) HLM activities during their religious practices; (2) the emotions connected to HLM; and (3) the family’s HLM practices when they travel to Brazil. Through a qualitative analysis of participant observation fieldnotes, interviews, and video recorded interactions as the family engages in heritage language socialization practices at home, in their community, and during travel to visit extended family in Brazil, I examine specific discourse strategies employed by the family in their maintenance efforts, giving attention to the linguistic, cultural, and religious ideologies that influence their communicative strategies. The findings expand knowledge and increase awareness on the topic of language socialization, cultural assimilation, and family language policy (FLP) in connection with HLM since family language negotiation strategies exert an undeniable impact on the outcome of HLM. Finally, this contribution also highlights the need for HL families, and all involved in HLM to recognize the emotions, attitudes, and language ideologies of heritage language speakers to fully harness their knowledge and aspirations
To Eat or Not To Eat? That is the Question: Nutrient Source Shifts in Carnivorous Plants
No full textCarnivorous plants are insectivorous plants that have reversed the evolutionary paradigm of “Insects eat plants\u27\u27 to “Plants eat insects”. Carnivorous plants thrive in pristine, nutrient-poor wetlands and trap and digest small animal prey to compensate for the lack of nutrients in the environment. Such nutrient-deprived oligotrophic habitats where carnivorous plants occur are some of the most important ecosystems for human communities. However, these freshwater wetlands are increasingly under threat from eutrophication, an input of reactive nutrients, such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). The increased flux of available N and P caused by human activities is impacting biodiversity of wetlands at different scales, different groups of organisms, and different trophic levels. Therefore, it is imperative that the nutrient levels of these wetlands be monitored, and the ecosystem protected. Interestingly, carnivorous plants are known to change their degree of carnivory depending on the availability of nutrients in the environment, and thus can be a potential tool to monitor the nutrient changes in wetlands. The first chapter focusses on carnivory in Utricularia spp. (bladderwort) in Australia, aquatic carnivorous plants that use underwater bladder traps to capture and digest aquatic invertebrates. The work described in this chapter was carried out in collaboration with the Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry (CCB) in New South Wales, Australia through the Limnology and Oceanography Research Exchange (LOREX) program of the National Science Foundation. We measured the relationship between carnivory in Utricularia spp. and the level of nutrients in its natural habitat using stable nitrogen abundance isotope ratios (δ15N). Carnivory provided 40 –100% of the plant’s nitrogen. The lowest carnivory rates coincided with the highest availability of ammonium and dissolved organic carbon in the water. Our findings suggest that Utricularia populations may acclimate to high nutrient environments by shifting away from an energetically costly carnivory. This raises questions as to what drives the loss of Utricularia spp. commonly observed in eutrophic waterbodies. The second chapter focuses on three genera of local carnivorous plants, Sarracenia purpurea (American pitcher plant), Drosera intermedia (sundew), and Utricularia inflata (bladderwort). Little is known about the seasonal diet shifts between carnivory and the abiotic environment as sources of nutrients among co-occurring carnivorous plant species. Although studies reporting captured prey species by carnivorous plants are abundant, studies investigating the composition of assimilated prey species in their leaves are scarce. I investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics in carnivory vs. environmental nutrient acquisition and compositional analysis of prey species assimilated in carnivorous plants of New England (USA). I measured the natural abundance stable isotope ratios of the above species and their nutrient sources during their growing seasons in two oligotrophic ponds in New England. MixSIAR, a Bayesian stable isotope mixing model, was used to estimate the carnivory of each plant species and the composition of prey species assimilated in terrestrial carnivorous plants. Spatiotemporally, aquatic U. inflata acquired more nutrients from carnivory (70 to 100%) than did terrestrial carnivorous plant species (29% to 63%). S. purpurea acquired nutrients mainly from ants and flies. The sources of nutrients for D. intermedia varied spatiotemporally among arthropod species. The large contribution of carnivory to the nutrient budget of U. inflata could be a result of its lack of roots and high metabolic rate. S. purpurea and D. intermedia could effectively regulate the nutrient level in their habitat or benefit from environmental dissolved organic nitrogen. The results of the study of prey proportions can be used as the first available prior information for Bayesian approach in future studies. As anthropogenic driven nutrient influx continues to cause eutrophication globally, unique, and rich wetland biodiversity is altered and is diminishing rapidly. Thus, understanding the sources of nutrients in carnivorous plants can provide invaluable insight into the ecophysiology and conservation of carnivorous plants and their fragile wetland ecosystems
Numerical Simulation of the Boltzmann Equation
No full textThis research focuses on the simulation of ultracold Fermi gases to investigate spin transport. We focus on the high-temperature weak-coupling regime where particles follow the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. In our simulations, we use a 3-dimensional box setup to initially separate opposite spin species into two halves of the box and then allow the species to diffuse into each other. The opposite spin particles scatter semi-classically as the system relaxes to equilibrium. We vary parameters such as temperature and scattering length for each simulation, and the results from the simulations are used to calculate an equation for the diffusion coefficient. The equation moderately agrees with the theoretical diffusion coefficient within a range of temperatures and scattering lengths
To Fear the Heat of the Sun
No full textTO FEAR THE HEAT OF THE SUN is a collection of poems that are interested in exploring and sitting with feelings that can be thought of as “ugly”. These feelings include sadness, anger, violence, loneliness, disgust, loss and, TO FEAR THE HEAT OF THE SUN is interested how these feelings manifest themselves in everyday life. The collection is interested in meeting these feelings head on while avoiding being coldhearted or distant and instead they yearn for warmth and belonging despite being engrossed in feelings that are ugly and difficult. The title is taken from a Shakespearian funeral hymn. In it those in mourning sing that in death, the deceased no longer needs to be harmed by life’s struggles, or burned by the heat of sun. These poems have no such solace, and search to find beauty and warmth in life, when the heat of the sun still rages overhead
Articulating the Value of a Credential from a Postsecondary Education Program for Students with Intellectual Disability
Get PDFThe brief outlines six facts about postsecondary education programs for students with intellectual disability that illustrate the value of the non-degree credentials students graduating from these programs earn. This brief was written to support program staff and others to clearly articulate the value of a program\u27s credential to potential and current employers, students, family and other community members
State Vocational Rehabilitation Leaders\u27 Perspectives on Partnering with Higher Education Programs for Students with Intellectual Disability
Get PDFThis Insight Brief provides an overview of the listening session and discussion of the key issues identified: language barriers, need for better communication, lack of awareness of systems and guidance, funding challenges, and the need for goal alignment and employment-focused programming. The brief includes recommendations for state VR agencies and higher education programs to overcome these challenges, such as improved communication practices, comprehensive training, and policy updates to improve funding and collaboration efforts
Building a Foundation for Racial and Ethnic Equity: Estimated Impacts of Massachusetts Legislation to Expand Affordable Quality Child Care and Early Education Executive Summary
Get PDFA multi-disciplinary UMass Boston team of researchers through the Early Education Cost and Usage Simulator Project (CUSP) seeks to better understand some of the impacts of expanding financial assistance to families for child care and early education. The team has developed and uses a statistical model that simulates parents’ decisions about care usage to estimate how much more licensed care might be needed in Massachusetts and what employment and income changes may take place with increased utilization of affordable licensed quality child care and early education. The team’s October 2023 brief provided findings for all families and children in the Commonwealth. This executive summary of the full brief disaggregates data by race and ethnicity to explore disparities that currently exist in terms of children’s access to licensed care and costs and what happens to such disparities when the cost of licensed care is substantially reduced
Utilizing Digital Health Technologies to Promote Engagement in Behavioral Health Treatment Among Adults with Major Depressive Disorder
No full textAbstract
Background: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is extremely common and is difficult to treat. Evidenced-based interventions, promising medications, and care provided by experienced clinicians can be ineffective when patients disengage from treatment. Within an outpatient behavioral health program, low engagement in treatment among adult patients diagnosed with MDD negatively affects patient outcomes while contributing to provider burden. The most promising intervention to increase patient engagement based on evidence and needs of the local site is utilizing digital health technologies (DHTs), such as an online or smart-phone application.
Methods: Telehealth treatment augmented with digital health technologies among adult patients diagnosed with MDD was implemented in an outpatient behavioral health program to increase patient engagement in behavioral health treatment, in order to improve patient outcomes and reduce provider burden.
Intervention: DHTs were used to augment existing telehealth treatment to increase patient engagement for patients who met eligibility, based upon the DHT Guideline Algorithm. Providers and patients collaboratively selected a DHT application. Providers and patients were surveyed to assess feasibility, value added, and engagement with use of DHTs.
Results: A total of fifty-three patients screened eligible to participate in the project. Forty-seven percent of eligible patients (n=25) augmented telehealth treatment with DHTs. All of these patients remained engaged in treatment. The program disengagement rate reduced from pre to post implementation for both clinicians and prescribers. Patient Health Questionare-9 (PHQ-9) scores reduced by thirty-three percent and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scores reduced by forty-five percent. The patient satisfaction survey showed a majority of patients found DHTs to be feasible to use (n=15), adding value to their treatment (n=12), and enjoyable to use (n=14). The provider satisfaction survey showed that sixty percent of providers (n=3) found that DHTs added value to treatment and improved patient outcomes.
Conclusions: Implementation of telehealth treatment augmented with DHTs among adult patients diagnosed with MDD receiving care from an outpatient behavioral health program was effective in increasing patient engagement in treatment for the project site, while also showing improvement in patients’ symptoms. Future work should explore provider training to increase confidence and competence with incorporating DHTs into practice