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1. On good terms: pathways to decolonizing science-appropriated Indigenous terminologies in Arctic research

   https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2025-0025  

   Ksenofontov, Stanislav Saas; Kuklina, Vera; Kholodov, Alexander; Petrov, Andrey (July 2025, Arctic Science)

   Many western scientific disciplines adopted Indigenous Knowledge and terminology without deference or understanding of the original meanings and values attached to Indigenous terms and concepts. This form of scientific appropriation has become a serious issue in light of decolonizing Arctic research. The notion of Alaas is an example of such appropriation by the western science-based system of Indigenous knowledge about human-nature relations. This paper aims to discuss the term Alaas as it is represented in both western science and Indigenous knowledge. The paper will explore the development of ‘alaas’ as an international permafrost science term and Alaas as an economic, traditional, cultural and spiritual space of the Sakha People in Northeastern Siberia. In analyzing these histories and meanings, the authors will attempt to provide a pathway to decolonizing western science-appropriated Indigenous terminology. 

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2. Machine learning classification of disrotatory IRC and conrotatory non-IRC trajectory motion for cyclopropyl radical ring opening

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D1CP00612F  

   Maley, Steven M.; Melville, Jesse; Yu, Spencer; Teynor, Matthew S.; Carlsen, Ryan; Hargis, Cal; Hamilton, R. Spencer; Grant, Benjamin O.; Ess, Daniel H. (June 2021, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics)

   null (Ed.)

   Quasiclassical trajectory analysis is now a standard tool to analyze non-minimum energy pathway motion of organic reactions. However, due to the large amount of information associated with trajectories, quantitative analysis of the dynamic origin of reaction selectivity is complex. For the electrocyclic ring opening of cyclopropyl radical, more than 4000 trajectories were run showing that allyl radicals are formed through a mixture of disrotatory intrinsic reaction coordinate (IRC) motion as well as conrotatory non-IRC motion. Geometric, vibrational mode, and atomic velocity transition-state features from these trajectories were used for supervised machine learning analysis with classification algorithms. Accuracy >80% with a random forest model enabled quantitative and qualitative assessment of transition-state trajectory features controlling disrotatory IRC versus conrotatory non-IRC motion. This analysis revealed that there are two key vibrational modes where their directional combination provides prediction of IRC versus non-IRC motion. 

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3. Infrared-safe energy weighting does not guarantee small nonperturbative effects

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.110.014029  

   Bright-Thonney, Samuel; Nachman, Benjamin; Thaler, Jesse (July 2024, Physical Review D)

   Infrared and collinear (IRC) safety has long been used a proxy for robustness when developing new jet substructure observables. This guiding philosophy has been carried into the deep learning era, where IRC-safe neural networks have been used for many jet studies. For graph-based neural networks, the most straightforward way to achieve IRC safety is to weight particle inputs by their energies. However, energy-weighting by itself does not guarantee that perturbative calculations of machine-learned observables will enjoy small nonperturbative corrections. In this paper, we demonstrate the sensitivity of IRC-safe networks to nonperturbative effects, by training an energy flow network (EFN) to maximize its sensitivity to hadronization. We then show how to construct Lipschitz energy flow networks ( $L$-EFNs), which are both IRC safe and relatively insensitive to nonperturbative corrections. We demonstrate the performance of $L$-EFNs on generated samples of quark and gluon jets, and showcase fascinating differences between the learned latent representations of EFNs and $L$-EFNs. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

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4. Navigating Relational Perspectives Through Collaboration to Expand Students’ Experiences Of/With/In Places and Cultures

   Covitt, Beth A.; Frank, Nicollette; Perry, Ho’oululāhui Erika; Watson, Bruce Ka’imi; Haavind, Sarah; Cope, Dale; Staudt; Carolyn (April 2023, Annual Meeting of NARST)

   Making sense of what to do about the many daunting socio-environmental issues that we face will require intercultural understanding, openness to learning, and a capacity to draw on the strengths of multiple perspectives and to recognize limitations of dominant perspectives such as Eurocentric science. Navigating multiple perspectives in the school science classroom can be particularly treacherous for Indigenous students, whose cultural worldviews have often been excluded or denigrated in Eurocentric educational contexts. We present findings from a partnership project that is designing, implementing, studying, and refining instructional experiences for middle school students from significantly/predominantly Indigenous communities in Alaska and Hawai’i. This paper describes our efforts to understand project partners’ standpoints, acknowledging that in designing and implementing multi-perspective middle school science instruction, it will be critical to understand the multiple perspectives that we ourselves bring to the work. We present and discuss the views that project partners (including teachers) have shared concerning science, science education, multiple perspectives, and Indigenous cultural integrity and potential consequentiality for the project’s collaborative work. Five prominent themes relate to (1) the challenge of defining Indigenous and Eurocentric science for application in an instructional design context, (2) relationships with place, (3) centrality of language, (4) scaffolding and understanding learning through a multi-perspective lens, and (5) constraints associated with Eurocentric classroom and science contexts. 

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5. “We didn’t know we were doing science”: Engaging with science and mathematics in an archaeology afterschool program

   https://doi.org/10.51355/jstem.2023.135  

   Simpson, Amber; Miroff, Laurie E; Carroll, Lynda; Versaggi, Nina M; McCann, Jada; Murtaugh, Diana; Coles, Jessica (December 2023, Journal of Research in STEM Education)

   An extensive number of empirical research studies support the engagement of young children and youth in out-of-school science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics learning experiences. In this case study, we add to this knowledge base through examining how rural middle school learners engage with science and math concepts and practices through an afterschool program that emphasized the development of STEM content, skills, and practices using the field of archaeology, as well as Indigenous knowledges, as mediums. Results highlighted how various syncretic approaches within the afterschool program afforded 61 middle school aged learners’ opportunities to engage with math and science concepts common to archaeologists and Indigenous peoples. We illustrate this through five “doings.” For example, learners engaged in similar science practices to Indigenous peoples through considering how local landscapes and the natural environment informed decisions regarding settlements. This study concludes with recommendations for professional archaeologists and educators to adapt and/or develop a similar afterschool program to support students’ participation as ARCH + STEM learners. 

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