Meeting the Earthworks Builders: A flash-based video game

We propose to create a video game about Earthwork Builder Culture for school-age children in grades 4 through 8. In the past, the Earthwork Builder Culture has been poorly addressed in student learning materials. Current understanding and portrayal of American Indians remains largely stereotypical. This game will be developed using content generated by scientists, academics, educators, and American Indians. This approach will ensure that the native voice will be incorporated into the subject content areas, interface, game mechanics and artwork. Educational video games are a multimodal form of student engagement using visual images, animation, sound, text, and navigation/ interface design elements that engage students and allow them to make decisions and choices, developing problem solving skills and systems thinking. This medium will allow us to communicate profound aspects of American Indian thought through player interaction and the juxtaposition of graphical information

The simulation of elastic wave propagation in presence of void in the subsurface

Underground voids, whether man-made (e.g., mines and tunnels) or naturally occurring (e.g., karst terrain), can cause a variety of threats to surface activity. Therefore, it is important to be able to locate and characterize a potential void in the subsurface so that mitigating measures can be taken. In real-world environments, the subsurface properties and the existence of a void is not known, so the problem is challenging to solve. The numerical analysis conducted in this study takes a step toward understanding the seismic response with and without a void in various types of domains. The Finite Difference Method (FDM) and Finite Element Method (FEM) numerical techniques were used to analyze 1-D and 2-D seismic wave propagation for homogenous domains, layered domains, and with voids in the domain. The outputs of each numerical method were compared via their results and computational efficiency, which has not been completed in the current literature. Additionally, different void shapes were placed in the computational models to analyze each method’s void detection ability. For 1-D wave propagation, both methods produced identical results at different loading frequencies and Courant numbers. Computationally, both methods have similar run times, while FDM had a simpler implementation than FEM. In a 2-D simulation, COMSOL was used for the FEM, and the staggered-grid technique was used for the FDM. Slight dispersion was observed in all the FDM solutions, where this was attributed to the step size; however, using a smaller step size significantly increased the computational time. For a homogenous model, both methods produced similar vertical particle velocity contours and surface time histories. Computationally, FDM outperformed FEM, and due to its ease of implementation, it was recommended for homogenous wave propagation. A three-layered domain was analyzed that featured a silty clay upper layer, and two lower rock layers. Contours of vertical particle velocity displayed that the majority of the wave remained in the upper third of the domain because of the harsh difference in material properties between the first and second layers. Additionally, a numerical model was created that consisted of the material properties obtained by ultrasonic testing. Reflections were seen in the generated seismograms but were not as visible as the ones seen in the three-layered case because the measured properties are alike and allow the wave to travel easily through the domain. After analyzing the wave propagation in a domain without a void, three void shapes were placed at the center of the domain (ellipse, circle, and square), and the resulting wave propagation was analyzed. There was minimal noise near the interface of rounded shapes in the FDM results, which was attributed to the staircase approximation used to define the shape. The surface time histories displayed reflections due to the void that were not seen in homogeneous cases. The elliptical void produced slightly more pronounced reflections because the length of the shape was larger than the circle and square. The reflections were also more easily seen in the rock domain than in soil. It was difficult locating voids in the three-layer case, but plots that computed the difference between the no-void and void case revealed that the voids did affect wave propagation. The elliptical void had the largest maximum difference of the seismograms, which occurred at the receiver closest to the void. There were differences between the subtracted plots from each method, where this was attributed to the different source incorporation. However, future studies will need to be completed to fully analyze why these plots differed between each method. Reflections from the void were more easily seen in the domain featuring the results from ultrasonic testing because of the similar rock properties that the samples shared. The elliptical void had the most perturbations compared to the square and circular voids. Overall, the FEM had longer computational times than the FDM, but both methods can successfully analyze wave propagation in the studied domains

Paulo Freire: Community Based Arts Education

This paper is about Paulo Freire and his influence on the perspective and application of literacy programming and interdisciplinary education through the arts. Portraiture, as used in this paper, is a collection of stories that illuminate historical, social, and cultural influences that connect Freire to a community and to the world. Freire’s pedagogical theory requires educators and students to examine self, culture, and community. It also addresses issues of power, voice, conflict, class, gender, and race. Freire’s philosophy and application illustrates the value he placed on education through life experiences/knowledge, the arts, and cultures of the people. In this paper, I present excerpts from Freire’s 1996 conference presentation at Diaderma interviews with Freire, Francisco Brennand, a Brazil artist and co-worker of Freire, and Ana Mae Barbosa, past president of International Society of Education through Art, a professor at The University of São Paulo, and a student of Freire

Tonality and Neoclassicism in Stravinsky’s Sonata for Piano, Mvt. 2 (1924)

Igor Stravinsky’s Sonata for Piano is an often overlooked yet important artifact of the composer’s neoclassicism. his treatment of tonality in the second movement is both literally and aurally more conventional than one might first guess. Stravinsky’s reliance on convention points to an ideology of continuity, one that honors the legacy of beethoven and other heroes. In doing so, Stravinsky’s Sonata brings forward old ideas wrought in new ways for a modern era. This essay examines ways of thinking about Stravinsky’s neoclassic style through analysis of the second movement of the Sonata focusing on the use of post-tonal techniques to create surprisingly tonal music.Igor Stravinsky’s Sonata for Piano is an often overlooked yet important artifact of the composer’s neoclassicism. his treatment of tonality in the second movement is both literally and aurally more conventional than one might first guess. Stravinsky’s reliance on convention points to an ideology of continuity, one that honors the legacy of beethoven and other heroes. In doing so, Stravinsky’s Sonata brings forward old ideas wrought in new ways for a modern era. This essay examines ways of thinking about Stravinsky’s neoclassic style through analysis of the second movement of the Sonata focusing on the use of post-tonal techniques to create surprisingly tonal music

Games, Pedagogy and Art Education

In 1848, under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, Squier and Davis documented what is now referred to as the Newark Earthworks, Ohio (USA). Built over two thousand years ago by indigenous peoples, understanding the earthworks has been ongoing. The Octagon Earthwork in Newark, Ohio was named one of the seventy wonders of the ancient world (Scarre, 1999), and yet this American Indian spiritual space is occupied by a private country club whose golf course winds around the mound. This article provides an introduction to earthworks, the approach to designing interactive curricula, including games and a pedagogy of educational games, which can virtually bring an important site such as the Octagon Earthwork into the classroom

Disclosing Deviations: Using Guidelines to Nudge and Empower Physician-Patient Decision Making

Americans fail to receive recommended care roughly half the time, reflecting poor decision making that threatens their health. This Article offers an innovative solution: require physicians to disclose clinical practice guideline recommendations to patients during informed consent. Behavioral economics suggest that insisting physicians and patients discuss guidelines, before deviating from them, could be surprisingly effective at nudging more rational care choices. At the same time, such disclosure should also educate and empower patients, serving autonomy. Previous scholarship on unwarranted variances in care has focused primarily on malpractice reforms, largely ignoring the role of cognitive bias and the importance of patients receiving empirically based, consensus recommendations. This Article provides important new analysis of the connection between cognitive bias in physician decision making and practice guidelines. It offers key insights on aligning informed consent with patient autonomy and begins an important dialogue on elevating the salience of guidelines, thereby improving physician-patient decision making practices

Final Project Report: Wine Suitcase

The Wine Suitcase Project was proposed by Dr. Becker to address the problem of a lack of safe and secure transportation of wine during worldwide travel. Currently, there are some solutions, like wine bottle diapers (a special bag to put a wine bottle in and catch the liquid if the bottle breaks) and an expensive wine suitcase, but a protective, insulated and cost-effective wine travel suitcase would be of great help to the wine community. This past year, our team has worked to design and produce said suitcase. The major objectives of this design are that the suitcase has to keep the bottles below the critical temperature of 70°F and safe from breaking during travel and baggage handling. Specifically, the suitcase should be able to pass the International Safe Transit Association’s (ISTA) Test Procedure 2A for Packaged-Products 150 pounds or less and keep the wine below a temperature of 70 °F for up to 36 hours [1]. The bottles should be placed in the bag at a maximum of 65 °F initially. In order for the user to know if his/her wine has been above the 70 °F mark, the design should also include a notification system or temperature tracker. Finally, the suitcase should hold up to 12 bottles of 750 mL wine and come in at a total cost of less than $350 to be competitive against current suitcase designs. The suitcase also needs to be able to hold at least one case of wine (12 bottles) of various sizes. According to these objectives and requirements, a wine suitcase was designed and fabricated using a hard-shell suitcase, foam, insulation and a temperature sensor. Specifically, the hard-shell suitcase and the foam padding satisfied the safety requirement for the bottles and for the temperature stability requirement, the insulation was added as a layer between the foam and suitcase shell. Additionally, in order to communicate to the user what the temperature of the wine is inside the suitcase, the team added a handheld sensor device with Bluetooth capabilities. After fabrication, 7 tests were performed to evaluate the success of the design against the requirements: bottle physical protection test, bottle quantity test, bottle thermal protection test, weight of suitcase test, size of suitcase test, ThermoplusTM temperature sensor test and a heat transfer simulation test. The team was unable to perform the thermal protection test due to the displacement from San Antonio from COVID-19. Each of the other 6 tests were performed and resulted in a success and satisfied their appropriate requirement. The heat transfer simulation test was added after the displacement from COVID-19 to offset the inability to perform the thermal test in person. The thermal simulation test was run to focus on the most critical 15-minute time-frame of the travel journey where the suitcase may be held in direct sunlight. At all other times, the suitcase will be in the cargo hold or inside the air-conditioned airport. While the simulation is not the same as an in-person test, we can still use it as a good measure of the thermal protection capabilities of our design and were satisfied with the passing results. Overall, once the temperature sensor has been installed, we assert that the Wine Suitcase that was fabricated before displacement will be a fully functioning device that can safely transport wine due to the successes of our testing

Decolonizing Development Through Indigenous Artist-Led Inquiry

In this article four university art educators explore theories of self-determination and describe decolonizing, approaches to research that are built on mutual trust. As researchers we recognize that (re)presenting the stories of others—especially across international and transcultural boundaries—is both problematic and an ethical challenge. We acknowledge the risks that participants assume when sharing their stories, and follow the culturally sensitive strategy of having collaborating indigenous artists lead the research