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The Metadata is LLaVA: Evaluating Generative AI for Digital Records
No full textThis presentation shares a pilot study to assess the multimodal AI tool LLaVA (Large Language and Vision Assistant) in generating descriptive metadata for digitized photographs. The study focuses on evaluation methods for AI-generated descriptions utilizing structured rubrics, which will assess the accuracy, bias, usability, and overall effectiveness of the AI tool. The presentation will also cover the ethics and best practices of using AI-generated metadata for sensitive content. Attendees will gain insights into practical methods for critically evaluating AI-generated outputs, equipping them with adaptable, relevant assessment techniques that may be useful in various library workflow settings
Strategic Support Points in LAC: China\u27s Evolving Strategy in Latin America and the Caribbean
No full textThis paper explores the evolution of the People’s Republic of China’s strategic aims in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Through a detailed analysis of Mandarin and English-language sources, including People’s Liberation Army (PLA) publications, Chinese white papers, and official statements, the paper finds that China initially viewed LAC strictly through the lens of trade and investment, “win-win cooperation,” and South-South solidarity.
However, over time, Chinese writings increasingly describe LAC as a potential network of “strategic support points” (战略支点) that could enhance the PLA’s global mobility and sustainment. Mexico, Argentina, and Chile play key roles in China’s Sitian (司天) global space domain awareness program. Moreover, China enlists regional governments to adhere to Beijing’s international cybersecurity norms, even as several LAC countries have been victims of China-based cyber intrusions.
These moves fit within China’s broader initiatives—such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Security, Global Development, and Global Civilization Initiatives—to project influence and shape global norms. While China currently lacks military bases in the hemisphere, its layered strategy integrates commercial, diplomatic, and soft-power tools to potentially normalize a security presence in the future.
The paper concludes that LAC is no longer considered a peripheral region in Chinese strategic thought but an emerging flank of China’s “Far Seas Protection” strategy—in which infrastructure, political alignment, and crisis-response capabilities lay the groundwork for future national security contingencies.https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/jgi_research/1074/thumbnail.jp
Echoes of Colonization: Western Sahara’s Historical Struggle for Self-Determination
No full textFor over five decades, the region of Western Sahara has been entangled in a web of speculation and conflict since Spain relinquished control of the region. The totality of which has caused years of bloodshed and infighting between the government of Morocco and the partially recognized state in the region known as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic who have both claimed ownership of the region. This staunch stance from the two parties has historically mired the regional and international community and has caused tensions to continuously escalate. The recent announcement by countries at the turn of the 2020s such as the United States, Spain, and France endorsing Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara has reignited these same historical disputes, sparking tensions globally, regionally, and among the indigenous Sahrawi population. This analysis examines the implications of their endorsement, exploring the historical context, possible reasonings, and the regional impact this decision may have for Western Sahara
Exploring Indian Long-Haul Truck Drivers’ Mental Health and Well-Being: Risk and Protective Factors Associated with their Lifestyle
No full textLong-haul truck drivers (LHTD) play a fundamental role in India’s economy, significantly contributing to the country’s GDP and are essential in the transportation sector. Extensive literature has highlighted concerns related to the LHTD’s working conditions, including long working hours, inadequate sleep, isolation, and the effects on their health and wellbeing. However, current literature lacks information surrounding the numerous risk and protective factors that configure the lifestyles of Indian LHTD. Aiming to explore how these factors affect physical and mental health, the present study assessed 812 LHTD’s inhabiting Mysore, Karnataka through a structured interview that assessed multiple dimensions of their lifestyle. Our findings revealed that 35% of participants reported being unable to stop or control worrying for several days of the week, and 10% had self-harming thoughts. 81.4% of participants claimed they use tobacco, and 69.7% of the drivers consume alcohol regularly. Furthermore, 34.9% of participants reported having sex without a condom with more than one partner. 93.3% reported four or more days of moderate activity in seven days and 82.6% of the long-haul truck drivers did not report having trouble falling asleep, using sleeping pills, or other insomnia symptoms. It is hypothesized that these protective factors might exert a buffering effect on LHTD’s health. Implications for policymakers and stakeholders highlight the importance of creating targeted interventions that address targeted risk factors while enhancing protective measures in Indian drivers and minimizing negative health outcomes. Thus, it is crucial to promote the adoption of healthy lifestyles that incorporate these protective factors to prevent communicable diseases and enhance overall quality of life
Living English, Moving Literacies: Women’s Stories of Learning between the US and Nepal
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Front Matter
Full text linkThe late Robert S. Freeman (1935–2022) was a pianist, conductor, and musicologist, but most of all a major administrator in the field of higher education in music: the director of the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music (for twenty-four years), president of the New England Conservatory, and, finally, dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas (Austin). The present book was intended by Freeman to draw together a number of arguments and suggestions—his own and those of notable American figures in American musical life—that aim at reviving the American symphony orchestra.
Freeman’s four chapters trace the history of the orchestra as an institution; sketch the career and accomplishments of one world-renowned American leader of orchestras, Leonard Slatkin; offer detailed suggestions about how music education can be improved at various levels to help ensure that music retain a central place in the nation’s cultural and social life; and propose an idea that he developed jointly with Slatkin, namely that “a new private foundation for the arts” be established to restore viability to America’s orchestral life and its artistic life more generally.
To these chapters, here numbered to show that they consist entirely of his own thoughts, Freeman added statements from two major figures in American music: an afterword by Slatkin (explaining further his and Freeman’s idea of a private foundation for the arts) and a foreword by the distinguished composer and librettist Mark Adamo.
The central and longest section of the book (titled “Interlude”) is a colloquy consisting of responses by nineteen individuals—Ayden Adler, Andrew Balio, Jeff Beal, Aubrey Bergauer, William Bolcom, Michael Drapkin, Glenn Dicterow, JoAnn Falletta, Charles Geyer, Barbara Haffner, Hilary Hahn, Pam Hentges, David Hyslop, Anne Midgette, David Myers, Joseph Robinson, Joseph Schwantner, Jenny Vogel, and John Bruce Yeh—to eight questions posed by Freeman. These individuals, all of them working in the field of classical music today in America, include composers, performers, critics, music administrators, and music educators. Some individuals of course wear several hats, which helps them comment from multiple angles. Freeman or Slatkin occasionally add a comment of their own after one or another reply.
All in all, the book provides a trenchant analysis—or even analyses in the plural—of how we got to the challenging situation today, plus many lively and imaginative suggestions of what might be done to improve that situation, for the mutual benefit of performing musicians and the music-loving public—and, by extension, of artists and art lovers, generally.
The book was edited for publication, at Freeman’s request in his last year of life, by Rio Hartwell, who explains in an editor’s note the tightening and reorganizing that he carried out in order to make this important work available to interested readers