ASU Scholarship Showcase

In this article, we suggest that graduate programs in predominantly white institutions can and should be sites of self-education and tribal nation building. In arguing this, we examine how a particular graduate program and the participants of that program engaged tribal nation building, and then we suggest that graduate education writ large must also adopt an institutional orientation of nation building. We connect Guinier’s notion of democratic merit to our discussion of nation building as a way to suggest a rethinking of “success” and “merit” in graduate education. We argue that higher education should be centrally concerned with capacity building and graduates who aim to serve their communities.

High proportions of autistic children suffer from gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, implying a link between autism and abnormalities in gut microbial functions. Increasing evidence from recent high-throughput sequencing analyses indicates that disturbances in composition and diversity of gut microbiome are associated with various disease conditions. However, microbiome-level studies on autism are limited and mostly focused on pathogenic bacteria. Therefore, here we aimed to define systemic changes in gut microbiome associated with autism and autism-related GI problems. We recruited 20 neurotypical and 20 autistic children accompanied by a survey of both autistic severity and GI symptoms. By pyrosequencing the V2/V3 regions in bacterial 16S rDNA from fecal DNA samples, we compared gut microbiomes of GI symptom-free neurotypical children with those of autistic children mostly presenting GI symptoms. Unexpectedly, the presence of autistic symptoms, rather than the severity of GI symptoms, was associated with less diverse gut microbiomes. Further, rigorous statistical tests with multiple testing corrections showed significantly lower abundances of the genera Prevotella, Coprococcus, and unclassified Veillonellaceae in autistic samples. These are intriguingly versatile carbohydrate-degrading and/or fermenting bacteria, suggesting a potential influence of unusual diet patterns observed in autistic children. However, multivariate analyses showed that autism-related changes in both overall diversity and individual genus abundances were correlated with the presence of autistic symptoms but not with their diet patterns. Taken together, autism and accompanying GI symptoms were characterized by distinct and less diverse gut microbial compositions with lower levels of Prevotella, Coprococcus, and unclassified Veillonellaceae.

Introduction: The Arizona State University (ASU) Library chose to particulate in the Ithaka S+R research study on Asian Studies faculty’s research practices and needs. The rationale for the study was as follows:

Asian Studies covers a diverse and vital world region that in recent decades has had major centers of both development and conflict. Although different from one another, these fields indicate the importance we place not only in traditional arts and sciences fields but also in the sciences, professions, and area studies that will continue to be important for our society and our universities. This study will generate a richly illustrated description of the field’s practices and needs and make actionable recommendations for how libraries (and others) can best support their research going forward.

The ASU Library is one of 19 university libraries selected to participate in the study. Among the selected libraries were Harvard University, Indiana University, UCLA University, University of Washington, Colorado University, University of Maryland, and University of Texas. Each university was responsible for interviewing 15 scholars involved in Asian Studies using a set of semi-structured interview questions. The identity of the scholars was kept anonymous. Each interview was recorded and transcribed. Each institution will write a report (to be placed in their university repositories) which will be passed up to the Ithaka S+R team who will write a report summarizing the entire project.

This local research project was implemented by a researcher at ASU with guidance on the research methodology and data analysis provided by Ithaka S+R. The ASU researcher participated in an Ithaka S+R training session which encouraged consistency across all the participating institutions. This report is organized This report is organized into seven sections providing an overview of Asian Studies at ASU and a discussions of the issues resulting from this study. Lastly, recommendations for the ASU Library to support Asian Studies.

Arizona State University is embracing new ways of thinking about how open stacks can make books active objects of engagement for a new generation of students, rather than risk becoming mere backdrops for study spaces. By taking a deliberate design approach to answering the question of which books and where, ASU Library seeks to position print collections as an engagement mechanism. This chapter presents the transformative potential of open stacks, along with planning for access, assessment and inclusive engagement. The authors describe how ASU Library is using a major library renovation project as a catalyst to explore these ideas, and propose a pathway to developing shared solutions for more effective use of library collections.