Dynamic, Playful and Productive Literacies

This paper reflects on recent projects in a variety of media forms, in both formal and informal educational settings, discussing ways of expanding our notions of literacy practices which reflect their place in the wider lived experience of digital culture. We have collected these reflections under three headings. The first of these, Dynamic Literacies, presents an overarching view of literacy as both ideological, following the ‘new literacy studies’, and dynamic, incorporating both semiotic and sociocultural versions of literacy in ways which reflect the changing nature of lived experience in the digital age. The second strand, Productive Literacies, constructs an argument around digital making practices with younger learners which views these as media crafting, critique and artistry. The third strand, Playful Literacies, explores recent projects which are located in games and game-authoring practices as a specific example of connecting pedagogy to contemporary media forms and learner agency in formal and informal settings. Taken together, the three perspectives allow for common ground to be established between multimodal production practices, whilst providing suggestions for framing literacy pedagogy in response to the pervasive use of media and technology in contemporary digital culture

The COINS Sample - VLBA Identifications of Compact Symmetric Objects

We present results of multifrequency polarimetric VLBA observations of 34 compact radio sources. The observations are part of a large survey undertaken to identify CSOs Observed in the Northern Sky (COINS). Compact Symmetric Objects (CSOs) are of particular interest in the study of the physics and evolution of active galaxies. Based on VLBI continuum surveys of ~2000 compact radio sources, we have defined a sample of 52 CSOs and CSO candidates. In this paper, we identify 18 previously known CSOs, and introduce 33 new CSO candidates. We present continuum images at several frequencies and, where possible, images of the polarized flux density and spectral index distributions for the 33 new candidates and one previously known but unconfirmed source. We find evidence to support the inclusion of 10 of these condidates into the class of CSOs. Thirteen candidates, including the previously unconfirmed source, have been ruled out. Eleven sources require further investigation. The addition of the 10 new confirmed CSOs increases the size of this class of objects by 50%.Comment: 24 pages, incl 8 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ. Figure quality degraded in the interests of space, full gzipped PS version also available at http://www.ee.nmt.edu/~apeck/papers

Measurement of the Integrated Faraday Rotations of BL Lac Objects

We present the results of multi-frequency polarization VLA observations of radio sources from the complete sample of northern, radio-bright BL Lac objects compiled by H. Kuhr and G. Schmidt. These were used to determine the integrated rotation measures of 18 objects, 15 of which had never been measured previously, which hindered analysis of the intrinsic polarization properties of objects in the complete sample. These measurements make it possible to correct the observed orientations of the linear polarizations of these sources for the effect of Faraday rotation. The most probable origin for Faraday rotation in these objects is the Galactic interstellar medium. The results presented complete measurements of the integrated rotation measures for all 34 sources in the complete sample of BL Lac objects.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Poor sleep quality and progression of gait impairment in an incident Parkinson’s disease cohort

Abnormal sleep may associate with cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease (PD). Furthermore, sleep dysfunction may associate with worse motor outcome. We hypothesised that PD patients with poor quality sleep would have greater progression in gait dysfunction, due to structural and functional overlap in networks subserving sleep and gait regulation. 12 PD patients and 12 age-matched controls completed longitudinal follow-up over 36 months. Poor sleep efficiency and greater sleep fragmentation correlated significantly with progression of step-width variability, a gait characteristic mediated by postural control, providing evidence that poor sleep in PD is associated with a more rapid deterioration in gait

Secondary Natural Gas Recovery: Targeted Technology Applications for Infield Reserve Growth: Case Studies Evaluating the Benefits of Secondary Gas Recovery, Onshore Gulf Coast, South Texas

Economic recovery of natural gas in reservoirs with near-tight to conventional porosity and permeability can be improved through geologically based infill-development strategies. Old gas fields may contain new infield reservoirs, incompletely drained reservoir compartments, untapped reservoir compartments, and bypassed reservoirs. These secondary resources may be identified by a combination of log evaluation and production and pressure analyses, and they are controlled by structural and stratigraphic heterogeneity. Many gas fields in the Gulf Coast may contain opportunities for identifying additional gas resources at modest costs. Remaining natural gas in these fields can be contacted either by recompleting existing wells that have bypassed reservoir compartments or by drilling strategically targeted infield wells. Exploration for new, untapped, or incompletely drained reservoir compartments or bypassed gas zones in old fields can be improved by using state-of-the-art formation evaluation tools and engineering, production, petrophysical, and geological analyses. The economics of developing and producing the secondary gas recovery (SGR) resource is evaluated for two producing properties in existing fields. The case I study area (North Mcfaddin field) had total operational and development costs (excluding royalties) of $0.58 per mcf, compared to total costs in case II (Agua Dulce field) of$0.83 per mcf. Future application of SGR concepts and technology to strategically targeted well locations and recompletions could further lower development costs.Bureau of Economic Geolog

Playing Beowulf: Bridging computational thinking, arts and literature through game-making

Preparing younger generations to engage meaningfully with digital technology is often seen as one of the goals of 21st century education. JeanetteWing’s seminal work on Computational Thinking (CT) is an important landmark for this goal: CT represents a way of thinking, a set of problem-solving skills which can be valuable when interacting with digital technologies, and with different fields of knowledge, such as Arts and Humanities. Even if this cross-areas relevance has been celebrated and acknowledged in theoretical research, there has been a lack of practical projects exploring these links between CT and non-STEM fields. This research develops these links. We present a specific case – a game produced by two 14 years-old boys – within Playing Beowulf, a collaboration with the British library’s Young Researchers programme, in which students aged 13–14 from an inner-London (UK) school have developed games based on their own readings of the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf during an after-school club. The game was produced using MissionMaker, a software (currently under development at UCL Knowledge Lab) that allows users to create and code their own first-person 3D games in a simple way, using pre-made 3D assets, such as rooms, props, characters and weapons and a simplified programming language manipulated through drop-down lists. We argue that MissionMaker, by simplifying the development process (low floor), can be a means to foster the building of knowledge in both STEM (CT) and Arts and Humanities, building bridges between these two areas inside and outside traditional schooling

Peri-operative pulse oximetry in low-income countries: a cost–effectiveness analysis

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the cost–effectiveness of pulse oximetry – compared with no peri-operative monitoring – during surgery in low-income countries. Methods: We considered the use of tabletop and portable, hand-held pulse oximeters among patients of any age undergoing major surgery in low-income countries. From earlier studies we obtained baseline mortality and the effectiveness of pulse oximeters to reduce mortality. We considered the direct costs of purchasing and maintaining pulse oximeters as well as the cost of supplementary oxygen used to treat hypoxic episodes identified by oximetry. Health benefits were measured in disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) averted and benefits and costs were both discounted at 3% per year. We used recommended cost–effectiveness thresholds – both absolute and relative to gross domestic product (GDP) per capita – to assess if pulse oximetry is a cost–effective health intervention. To test the robustness of our results we performed sensitivity analyses. Findings: In 2013 prices, tabletop and hand-held oximeters were found to have annual costs of 310 and 95 United States dollars (US$), respectively. Assuming the two types of oximeter have identical effectiveness, a single oximeter used for 22 procedures per week averted 0.83 DALYs per annum. The tabletop and hand-held oximeters cost US$ 374 and US$115 per DALY averted, respectively. For any country with a GDP per capita above US$ 677 the hand-held oximeter was found to be cost–effective if it prevented just 1.7% of anaesthetic-related deaths or 0.3% of peri-operative mortality. Conclusion: Pulse oximetry is a cost–effective intervention for low-income settings

Functional imaging of mucociliary phenomena: High-speed digital reflection contrast microscopy

We present a technique for the investigation of mucociliary phenomena on trachea explants under conditions resembling those in the respiratory tract. Using an enhanced reflection contrast, we detect simultaneously the wave-like modulation of the mucus surface by the underlying ciliary activity and the transport of particles embedded in the mucus layer. Digital recordings taken at a speed of 500 frames per second are analyzed by a set of refined data processing algorithms. The simultaneously extracted data include not only ciliary beat frequency and its surface distribution, but also space-time structure of the mucociliary wave field, wave velocity and mucus transport velocity. Furthermore, we propose the analysis of the space and time evolution of the phase of the mucociliary oscillations to be the most direct way to visualize the coordination of the cilia. In particular, this analysis indicates that the synchronization is restricted to patches with varying directions of wave propagation, but the transport direction is strongly correlated with the mean direction of waves. The capabilities of the technique and of the data-processing algorithms are documented by characteristic data obtained from mammalian and avine trachea

Statistical Properties of Galactic Starlight Polarization

We present a statistical analysis of Galactic interstellar polarization from the largest compilation available of starlight data. The data comprises ~ 9300 stars of which we have selected ~ 5500 for our analysis. We find a nearly linear growth of mean polarization degree with extinction. The amplitude of this correlation shows that interstellar grains are not fully aligned with the Galactic magnetic field, which can be interpreted as the effect of a large random component of the field. In agreement with earlier studies of more limited scope, we estimate the ratio of the uniform to the random plane-of-the-sky components of the magnetic field to be B_u/B_r = 0.8. Moreover, a clear correlation exists between polarization degree and polarization angle what provides evidence that the magnetic field geometry follows Galactic structures on large-scales. The angular power spectrum C_l of the starlight polarization degree for Galactic plane data (|b| < 10 deg) is consistent with a power-law, C_l ~ l^{-1.5} (where l ~ 180 deg/\theta is the multipole order), for all angular scales \theta > 10 arcmin. An investigation of sparse and inhomogeneous sampling of the data shows that the starlight data analyzed traces an underlying polarized continuum that has the same power spectrum slope, C_l ~ l^{-1.5}. Our findings suggest that starlight data can be safely used for the modeling of Galactic polarized continuum emission at other wavelengths.Comment: 31 pages, 11 figures. Minor corrections and some clarifications included. Matches version accepted for publication by the Astrophysical Journa