Connecting places: writing about and with Portal

Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2014Shannon Carter's pedagogy of rhetorical dexterity involves students using a familiar literacy at a meta-level to make sense out of an unfamiliar one. I used her pedagogy, as well as insights from James Paul Gee and John Dewey, in designing a 213x course on writing technologies. The writing prompt for the second unit asked students to write about their inquiry into the game space and reflect on how their experiences met up with research about video games in American society in general. The unit was sequenced with the intention that students would look at their own familiar literacies, understand them on a meta-level, before inquiry into "Portal." To understand one thing in terms of another is a metaphorical, conceptual understanding. Therefore, I use George Lakoff and Mark Johnson's theories on metaphorical language to analyze student writing. The second unit project involved students navigating multiple digital contexts: Google Drive, WordPress, class discussions, and the video game "Portal." My research investigates: How did students understand "Portal"? What role did "Portal" play in identity construction in my class?Introduction -- "Bad at Video Games" -- Three Theorists and Flexibility in Learning -- My Own Digital Literacy Narrative -- Chapter 1: Making Connections -- 1.1 Rhetorical Dexterity -- 1.2 Video Games, Learning, and Literacy -- 1.3 The Course of Reflective Thought -- 1.4 Why Metaphor Theory? -- 1.5 Why Portal? -- 1.6 Course Design -- 1.7 Research Context -- 1.8 The Evolution of the Course -- Chapter 2: Thinking with Portals -- 2.1 Video games are forces (The Game Changes the Player) -- 2.2 Video games are mirrors (The Game Reflects the Player) -- 2.3 Video games are opponents (The Game is Against the Player) -- 2.4 Video games are a malleable material (The Player Changes the Game) -- 2.5 Initial Reflections -- Chapter 3: Reflections -- 3.1 Findings -- Works cited -- Selected bibliography

Safety coaching: a literature review of coaching in high hazard industries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically review the research literature on safety coaching, with a particularly focus towards work in safety critical environments such as oil and gas, manufacturing and driving. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review was undertaken of existing research, specifically in high-hazard industries, to assess whether safety coaching could be applied in the offshore oil and gas industry. Findings – The paper suggests that coaching may offer some potential in helping support learning, behaviour change and is consistent with feedback and development approaches used in behavioural-based safety. Research limitations/implications – Further research would be needed to test the value of coaching to this new environment. Practical implications – The paper informs practice on the development of coach training for safety coaching offshore. Originality/value – The paper offers a new understanding of the potential of safety coaching in a new area of practice

Taking ownership of safety. What are the active ingredients of safety coaching and how do they impact safety outcomes in critical offshore working environments?

Safety coaching interventions have become a common feature in the safety critical offshore working environments of the North Sea. Whilst the beneficial impact of coaching as an organizational tool has been evidenced, there remains a question specifically over the use of safety coaching and its impact on behavioural change and producing safe working practices. A series of 24 semi-structured interviews were conducted with three groups of experts in the offshore industry: safety coaches, offshore managers and HSE directors. Using a thematic analysis approach, several significant themes were identified across the three expert groups including connecting with and creating safety ownership in the individual, personal significance and humanisation, ingraining safety and assessing and measuring a safety coach's competence. Results suggest clear utility of safety coaching when applied by safety coaches with appropriate coach training and understanding of safety issues in an offshore environment. The current work has found that the use of safety coaching in the safety critical offshore oil and gas industry is a powerful tool in managing and promoting a culture of safety and care

The Early Works of Alessandro Vittoria (c. 1540 - c. 1570)

The file processed with OCR is smaller and allows copying and pasting (though this may contain errors). The file without OCR is much larger and does not allow copying and pasting but the visual quality is generally superior.The thesis is divided into eight chapters, with various approaches adopted. Chapter One is primarily historical and outlines the artistic scene in Trent during Vittoria's youth until his departure for Venice in 1543, investigating the patronage of Prince-Bishop Cles and of his successor Cristoforo Madruzzo, as well as artists whose work was to exercise a subsequent influence on Vittoria.The next three chapters are ordered chronologically and discuss Vittoria's activities, both documented and hypothetical, during his years as an apprentice and then as a journeyman. Chapter Two investigates the contacts that Vittoria is likely to have made during the time he spent in Sansovino's shop between July 1543 and mid-1546, and those commissions upon which it is known, or reasonable to suppose, that he helped, as well as those places he may have visited, following his elevation to journeyman, and contacts which he probably made outside Venice from mid-1546 onwardsChapter Three deals with the first two commissions he executed in his own right in Venice around 1550, one subcontracted, the other independent, and his sojourn in Trent from autumn 1550 until late September 1551, where he was patronised by Madruzzo and by various of the foreign dignitaries. It discusses a probable short return trip to Venice in autumn 1551 during which relations with Sansovino were strained, Vittoria's precipitate removal to Vicenza as a result, and the break-down of relations between the two sculptors in December 1551.Chapter Four investigates his employment during his sojourn in Vicenza, and the role that Aretino appears to have played in obtaining eminent sitters for Vittoria to portray on medals, focussing primarily on the ignominious affair of the colossal d'Este $\textit{Hercules}$ and Vittoria's part in the stuccowork for Palazzo Thiene. Other non-Vicentine patrons are briefly discussed.The following four chapters chart Vittoria 's establishment in Venice, following his return by May 1553, and his rise from being regarded as one of several talented pupils of Sansovino to being recognised in the late 1560s by Venetians and non-Venetians alike as the pre-eminent sculptor of the city. Because of the increasing number of commissions undertaken by Vittoria, and the fact that some of them were protracted for several years, the strictly chronological approach is now abandoned in favour of dividing his work according to type of commission, and investigating these chronologically.Chapter Five focusses on work he produced for the façades of buildings, which fall into two basic categories: large-scale, almost always free-standing, figures for public buildings, and smaller-scale reliefs for the palaces of private patricians. These were subcontracted to Vittoria by the proto in charge of the construction, and with one exception they are all secular subjects.Chapter Six deals with Vittoria's decorative stuccowork for a variety of locations. It falls into three main categories: life-size (or larger) figures in niches; ornate (often figurated) fireplaces and mezzo-rilievo reliefs for walls or vaults. The smaller scale commissions tend to be for domestic palaces and ordered direct from the owner; the more ambitious and grandiose commissons for public buildings gained through Sansovino in his capacity as $\textit{Proto-magister.}$ Once more, their subject-matter is derived from pagan sources.Chapter Seven investigates the sculpture which Vittoria made to decorate altars or monuments in churches, which are as diverse in terms of their size, medium and subject as their commissioning patrons.Chapter Eight deals with small-scale statuary made by Vittoria, comprising two different commissions from $\textit{Scuole}$ for silver statuettes of saints; a number of bronzes of pagan subjects -including a statuette originally conceived as $\textit{S. Sebastian}$, but then given the alternative designation of $\textit{Marsyas}$ - made by Vittoria apparently for his own delectation; and a couple of lost secular works in stone for foreign patrons. It also investigates his own collection. This is followed by a Conclusion.Two appendices follow. The first is a Corpus of Documents (in Volume I) relating mainly to Vittoria's sculptural career, included so that the reader may check my interpretation of events against the sources. Some of the documents have previously been published, while others are transcribed here for the first time. The second appendix (in Volume II) consists of a Catalogue Raisonne of Vittoria's sculptures, to complement that made by Thomas Martin of Vittoria's portrait busts. It discusses the varying degrees of autograph works, works executed by the workshop after designs by Vittoria, works by the circle of Vittoria, lost works and rejected sculptures Volume III comprises the Illustrations.Digitisation of this thesis was sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwi

Family matters: Jacopo Sansovino’s Monument to Doge Francesco Venier in San Salvador, Venice

After his election as Doge of Venice in June 1554, Francesco Venier (1489-1556) changed his modest sepulchral plans to something more in keeping with his new position as head of state. Instead of a simple burial of “little pomp” in the far-flung church of San Francesco della Vigna, Venier secured a prominent, well-located site within the prestigious and centrally located church of San Salvador, stipulating that no less than 1,000 ducats be spent on his funerary monument. The posthumous sepulchral commission – overseen by Venier’s beloved brother Piero – resulted in the enormous gilded, polychrome marble and stone monument still in situ today (fig. 1), adorned with sculptures by two of Venice’s greatest cinquecento sculptors, Jacopo Sansovino (ca. 1486-1570), and his erstwhile assistant, Alessandro Vittoria (ca. 1524/25- 1608). This article reconsiders the monument’s commissioning history, through a re-examination of published archival documents and printed primary sources, followed by an analysis of previously unpublished litigation records. These fascinating new documents not only reveal the legal proceedings that Francesco Sansovino (1521-1586) set in motion in March 1571, four months after his father’s death, but also clarify, for the first time, the extent of Jacopo Sansovino’s involvement in the project and confirm the iconography of the two niche statues.Non

Assessing Addictions in a Spiritual World: Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equations Modeling to Develop the Life Interests Questionnaire

This study uses the thoughts and writings of Evagrius of Ponticus to provide a measure useful in assessing addictions in relation to spirituality. Evagrius (1972) theorizes that there are eight tempting thoughts that can form the basis of disordered attachments, and that these deadly thoughts could lead one to a life of addictions. These thoughts formed the foundation of the Life Interests Questionnaire (LIQ). This self-report survey consists of 170 items, all of which are scored on a Likert scale (1 = strongly agree and 5 = strongly disagree). The LIQ was paired with an interest survey containing 43 items taken from previously tested measures. These questions asked about one’s religious identification, locus of control, and beliefs about the world. In a pilot study, each attachment item group was examined through confirmatory factor analysis which allowed the substructure of the questionnaire to be examined and the overall fit of the model was found to be marginally adequate (GFI 0.8889). Reliability and validity of this measure were attained primarily through construct validity and it found both a valid and reliable measure of Evagrius’s underlying theory. Future plans include correlational studies between religious identification/practices and level of disordered attachments

Assessing the impact of the introduction of an electronic hospital discharge system on the completeness and timeliness of discharge communication: a before and after study

Background: Hospital discharge summaries are a key communication tool ensuring continuity of care between primary and secondary care. Incomplete or untimely communication of information increases risk of hospital readmission and associated complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the introduction of a new electronic discharge system (NewEDS) was associated with improvements in the completeness and timeliness of discharge information, in Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, England. Methods: A before and after longitudinal study design was used. Data were collected using the gold standard auditing tool from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP). This tool contains a checklist of 57 items grouped into seven categories, 28 of which are classified as mandatory by RCP. Percentage completeness (out of the 28 mandatory items) was considered to be the primary outcome measure. Data from 773 patients discharged directly from the acute medical unit over eight-week long time periods (four before and four after the change to the NewEDS) from August 2010 to May 2012 were extracted and evaluated. Results were summarised by effect size on completeness before and after changeover to NewEDS respectively. The primary outcome variable was represented with percentage of completeness score and a non-parametric technique was used to compare pre-NewEDS and post-NewEDS scores. Results: The changeover to the NewEDS resulted in an increased completeness of discharge summaries from 60.7% to 75.0% (p < 0.001) and the proportion of summaries created under 24 h from discharge increased significantly from 78.0% to 93.0% (p < 0.001). Furthermore, five of the seven grouped checklist categories also showed significant improvements in levels of completeness (p < 0.001), although there were reduced levels of completeness for three items (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The introduction of a NewEDS was associated with a significant improvement in the completeness and timeliness of hospital discharge communication

Validation of the HULL Score clinical prediction rule (CPR) for unsuspected pulmonary embolism in ambulatory cancer patients

Background Clinical prediction rules (CPRs) developed to predict adverse outcomes of suspected pulmonary embolism (PE) and facilitate outpatient management have limitations in discriminating outcomes for ambulatory cancer patients with unsuspected PE (UPE). The HULL Score CPR uses a 5‑point scoring system incorporating performance status and self-reported new or recently evolving symptoms at UPE diagnosis. It stratifies patients into low, intermediate and high risk for proximate mortality. This study aimed to validate the HULL Score CPR in ambulatory cancer patients with UPE. Patients and methods 282 consecutive patients managed under the UPE-acute oncology service in Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust were included from January 2015 to March 2020. The primary end-point was all-cause mortality, and outcome measures were proximate mortality for the three risk categories of the HULL Score CPR. Results 30-day, 90-day and 180-day mortality rates for the whole cohort were 3.4% (n=7), 21.1% (n=43) and 39.2% (n=80), respectively. The HULL Score CPR stratified patients into low-risk (n=100, 35.5%), intermediate-risk (n=95, 33.7%) and high-risk (n=81, 28.7%) categories. Correlation of the risk categories with 30-day mortality (area under the curve (AUC) 0.717, 95% CI 0.522–0.912), 90-day mortality (AUC 0.772, 95% CI 0.707–0.838), 180-day mortality (AUC 0.751, 95% CI 0.692–0.809) and overall survival (AUC 0.749, 95% CI 0.686–0.811) was consistent with the derivation cohort. Conclusion This study validates the capacity of the HULL Score CPR to stratify proximate mortality risk in ambulatory cancer patients with UPE. The score uses immediately available clinical parameters and is easy to integrate into an acute outpatient oncology setting

IL-33 potentiates histaminergic itch

BACKGROUND: Itch is a common symptom that can greatly diminish quality of life. Histamine is a potent endogenous pruritogen, and while antihistamines are often the first-line treatment for itch, in conditions like chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), many patients remain symptomatic while receiving maximal doses. Mechanisms that drive resistance to antihistamines are poorly defined. OBJECTIVES: Signaling of the alarmin cytokine IL-33 in sensory neurons is postulated to drive chronic itch by inducing neuronal sensitization to pruritogens. Thus, we sought to determine if IL-33 can augment histamine-induced (histaminergic) itch. METHODS: Itch behavior was assessed in response to histamine after IL-33 or saline administration. Various stimuli and conditional and global knockout mice were utilized to dissect cellular mechanisms. Multiple existing transcriptomic data sets were evaluated, including single-cell RNA sequencing of human and mouse skin, microarrays of isolated mouse mast cells at steady state and after stimulation with IL-33, and microarrays of skin biopsy samples from subjects with CSU and healthy controls. RESULTS: IL-33 amplifies histaminergic itch independent of IL-33 signaling in sensory neurons. Mast cells are the top expressors of the IL-33 receptor in both human and mouse skin. When stimulated by IL-33, mouse mast cells significantly increase IL-13 levels. Enhancement of histaminergic itch by IL-33 relies on a mast cell- and IL-13-dependent mechanism. IL-33 receptor expression is increased in lesional skin of subjects with CSU compared to healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that IL-33 signaling may be a key driver of histaminergic itch in mast cell-associated pruritic conditions such as CSU

RELICS: High-Resolution Constraints on the Inner Mass Distribution of the z=0.83 Merging Cluster RXJ0152.7-1357 from strong lensing

Strong gravitational lensing (SL) is a powerful means to map the distribution of dark matter. In this work, we perform a SL analysis of the prominent X-ray cluster RXJ0152.7-1357 (z=0.83, also known as CL 0152.7-1357) in \textit{Hubble Space Telescope} images, taken in the framework of the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey (RELICS). On top of a previously known $z=3.93$ galaxy multiply imaged by RXJ0152.7-1357, for which we identify an additional multiple image, guided by a light-traces-mass approach we identify seven new sets of multiply imaged background sources lensed by this cluster, spanning the redshift range [1.79-3.93]. A total of 25 multiple images are seen over a small area of ~0.4 $arcmin^2$, allowing us to put relatively high-resolution constraints on the inner matter distribution. Although modestly massive, the high degree of substructure together with its very elongated shape make RXJ0152.7-1357 a very efficient lens for its size. This cluster also comprises the third-largest sample of z~6-7 candidates in the RELICS survey. Finally, we present a comparison of our resulting mass distribution and magnification estimates with those from a Lenstool model. These models are made publicly available through the MAST archive.Comment: 15 Pages, 7 Figures, 4 Tables Accepted for publication in Ap