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Do you ever wonder about how PDF resources perform for those of us with visual disabilities? It’s a great question and one that does not have a single answer. PDF accessibility performance often depends on the complexity of the content in the document and whether or not the PDF document has been made ready for accessibility. While it may seem mysterious at first, making PDF documents accessible is really just a matter of awareness and process. If you are looking for a great place to start learning about the topic please check out this recording Carli Spina’s recent webinar.

Here in the monthly journal highlights we point out instances of fine scholarship from both the past and present. This is like the greatest hits from our stack of locally published and archived scholarly journals.

Need more information about the publishing services we offer? Check out our website or drop by Newman Library Suite 420.

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The Elegant Cinnabarinums

Felice Blake shares her fascination with this unusual rhododendron.

Older Adult Hunger: Theoretical Support for Community-Based Nutrition Programs

Community Change brings you this sobering look at a stubborn problem.Water Quality and Nutrient Aspects in Recirculating Aquaponic Production of Freshwater Prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii and the Lettuce, Lactuca sativa

Do you ever wonder about farming fish and other aquatic animals? If you do, the International Journal of Recirculating Aquaculture is just the place to get your feet wet!

Competencies and Traits of Successful Agricultural Science Teachers

A notable read from the Journal of Career and Technical Education from back in 2007.

Journey to Meet the Pigman

Brought to you by none other than The Alan Review, Paul Zindel relates the story behind the story.

Building a Framework for Engineering Design Experiences in High School

An ever popular topic from the Journal of Technology Education.

Simulation of a Start-up Manufacturing Facility for Nanopore Arrays

Just in case you were thinking of starting one, the Journal of Technology Studies has you covered.

Bewitched: Witchcraft, Life Insurance and the Business of Murder

The Virginia Tech Undergraduate Historical Review brings you this historical account of a deadly insurance fraud ring.

HEIDEGGER’S CONCEPTION OF AUTHENTICITY AND ITS TIE TO PASSION AND FULLNESS: Awake!

Stellar undergraduate scholarship from Philologia and CLAHS.

Sovereignty in the City: The Tacticalization of ‘Disallowed’ Life

Brought to you by SPECTRA, The ASPECT Journal, this paper examines sovereignty as a modality of power that is not possessed by a singular authority but instead embodied in the collective activity of a people.

Using Proximity Beacons to Connect Physical & Virtual Library Spaces: A Case Study

From Virginia Libraries, this piece looks at the use of proximity beacons as part of a library’s engagement strategy.

Strength and Microscopy Analysis of Surface-modified Soda-lime-silicate Glass Rods

From the Journal of Undergraduate Materials Research, this study looks at the strength of glass.

Please join us for the next STS Seminar:

Friday, December 8
1:30-3:30 p.m.
Athenaeum (Newman Library 124)

Dr. Bianca Prietl and Martin Winter
Department of Sociology
Technical University of Darmstadt

Title
“Gendered Construction of Artifacts: The Cases of Food and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).”

Abstract
This talk will deal with feminist perspectives on the social construction of artifacts – especially, food and ICT. An analytical view on how gender is inscribed into different artifacts is combined with a methodological suggestion for how to alter design in a feminist way. The bases for this presentation are in-progress projects.

Presenter Bios
Bianca Prietl has a PhD in sociology and is currently working as a post-doc at the Department of Sociology at TU Darmstadt. Her research interests are gender studies, science and technology studies, engineering studies, sociology of work and social inequality, and qualitative empirical research. In her PhD-thesis she has investigated the gendered construction of engineering in renewable energies.

Martin Winter is a PhD student at the Department of Sociology at TU Darmstadt and currently working in a research project on gender, food, and culinary culture. His interests are gender studies, science and technology studies, food studies, and sound studies.

Please contact Josh Earle (jearle@vt.edu) regarding live streaming of the presentation.

Snacks and conversation will begin at 1:00.

The STS Seminar Series returns to Athenaeum this week with the 14th annual Burian-McNabb Lecture. Please do join us!

Friday, Dec. 1, 1:303:30pm

Professor Laura Franklin-Hall (http://laurafranklin-hall.com/)
Department of Philosophy
New York University

“The Animal Sexes and Natural Kinds”

Abstract
Though biologists identify organisms as ‘male’ and ‘female’ across a broad range of animal species–in the pipefish, orb spider, quokka, and king quail–the particular traits enjoyed by males and females can vary almost without bound. This diversity has led some to conclude that the cross-animal sex categories—males, of whatever animal species, and females likewise—have “little or no explanatory power”(Dupré 1986: 447) and, as such, are not (in any substantive sense) natural kinds. This talk will explore possible reasoning for and against this conclusion, ultimately arguing that the cross animal sexes, despite their extreme diversity, are instances of type-level historical kinds, an unappreciated variety of natural kind that has an important scientific and explanatory calling.
Rider Foley—Assistant Professor, Science, Technology & Society, UVA
“From Engagement to Intervention: Reconstructing Two Events at the Motorola 52nd Street Superfund Site.”
Friday, November 3, 2017
1:30-3:30pm
Athenaeum (Newman Library 124)
Abstract
Scientific knowledge and technological artifacts are built into a city’s urban fabric. Such knowledge and artifacts in turn affect the lived experiences of the city’s residents. From Jane Jacobs’s streetscapes to Lewis Mumford’s livable city, the constitution of power and authority can be seen in the city’s very infrastructure. Scholars have recently experimented with novel engagements intending to shift de facto power and authority arrangements between citizens and technical experts. However, those experimental engagements are rarely understood as interventions in urban techno-politics. This article aims to reconstruct two interventions in Phoenix, Arizona at the Motorola 52nd Street Superfund Site, the largest urban subsurface contamination zone in the United States. The research design aims to reconstruct two specific interventions through the use a semi-structured analytical framework. Findings suggest the interventions “opened up” technical decisions and government officials later repurposed the participatory technology assessment at their quarterly meeting. The other intervention influenced a binding decision by elected officials. These events suggests how roles and relationships allowed boundaries to be crossed and for experiential and empirical knowledge to be unified and thus influence decisions within the sphere of urban techno-politics. The pursuits of science, technology and society (STS) scholars, I argue, are well positioned to move from engagement to intervention.

Continue reading “Rider Foley – Friday, November 3rd, in the Athenaeum”

As many of you know, A.D. Carson, Assistant Professor of Hip and Hop and the Global South in the McIntire Department of Music at UVA, will be in the Libraries as a featured panelist for the Digital Literacy Symposium.
A.D. has further and graciously agreed to lead an informal workshop and open discussion, in Athenaeum the following morning, focused on new approaches to the production of knowledge and publication of scholarship. Please do join us for that discussion. Details:
Friday, November 3, 2017
10:30am-12:00pm
Athenaeum Classroom (Newman Library, 124)
More on A.D.:

Are you a LaTeX user? Overleaf, the authoring tool that let’s you see the output results of LaTeX mark-up side-by-side with the editing screen, will be offering an “Advanced Features” workshop on Thursday, November 9th. There will be a morning session and an afternoon session. Both sessions of the workshop will be held in 3310 Torgersen Hall.

To sign up, please visit the registration page.

Ryan Looney – Overleaf Client Services Manager Presenting!

The workshop is free and you’ll be sure to learn more about Overleaf. We’ll dive into some of the most popular features available, and access the VT Graduate School thesis template. Overleaf Client Services Manager, Ryan Looney will be leading the workshop, answering your questions and providing valuable insight into using Overleaf for your thesis, research, and scholarly publications.

*Registration is recommended as spaces are limited.

Virginia Tech is working with Overleaf and ShareLaTeX to provide Overleaf Pro+ and Premium accounts to all VT students, faculty and staff. If you haven’t already signed up for your premium account, you can quickly do so here.

This post was contributed by Anita Walz, Open Education, Copyright & Scholarly Communication Librarian at Virginia Tech. This blog post is based in part on a presentation given at the Library Publishing Forum 2017, Baltimore, MD, entitled: “Adaptation? Derivatives? I thought we were just talking about Open Access.” and was originally published at the blog of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries: http://www.aserl.org/2017/09/talking-about-open/

This is an invitation to librarians, particularly those engaged in publishing, to explore current standards and practices, clear communication to non-librarians, and to prompt us to reflect about and discuss our values as libraries supporting access and creation of scholarly and learning resources.
Continue reading “But I thought we were just talking about OA”