1,260 research outputs found

    More than a Match: The Role of Football in Britain’s Deaf Community

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    The University of Central Lancashire has undertaken a major research project into the role of football within the deaf community in Britain. As well as reconstructing the long history of deaf involvement in football for the first time, the project has also focused on the way in which football has provided deaf people with a means of developing and maintaining social contacts within the community, and of expressing the community’s cultural values. This article will draw on primary data gathered from interviews conducted with people involved in deaf football in a variety of capacities. During the course of these interviews, a number of themes and issues emerged relating to the values and benefits those involved with deaf football place on the game, and it is these which are explored here

    Analysis of ionized cluster beam thin film deposition

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    Ionized cluster beam (ICB) deposition has received considerable attention since its introduction in 1972 by Takagi et al. at Kyoto University because of its potential for low temperature film growth. The Kyoto University group has conducted three major experiments that indicated the presence of large clusters in varying concentrations. These three experiments form the basis for all subsequent ICB research and are supplemented by a body of indirect evidence of film formation effects that have been attributed to the presence of large clusters. Many other groups have tried to corroborate these cluster size experiments with only a few suggesting the presence of large clusters. While further investigation of many aspects of ICB deposition is warranted, it is first necessary to determine with some certainty whether large clusters are being produced. A complete analysis of the Eaton ICB source involving computer calculation of the potential fields and computer simulation of the electrons and ions as they react to and influence these fields provides an in depth understanding of the dynamics that influence the final beam characteristics. A high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometer was developed to investigate the most important parameter, the cluster size distribution. Great effort was put toward developing a system that could detect even the smallest concentrations of large clusters and computer simulation of all aspects was done to assure the accuracy of the spectrometer. No evidence of large clusters was found down to a level more than two orders of magnitude below what the Kyoto University group has claimed. This motivated a review of the primary evidence for large clusters. A computer analysis of the three Kyoto University cluster size experiments has identified severe problems with each of the three experiments where the potential fields in the ionization areas are critically distorted by either space-charge effects or design flaws, both of which are serious enough to invalidate the experiments. The two highest resolution experiments, the one presented here and a laser ionized time-of-flight experiment, have turned up absolutely no evidence for the existence of large clusters. The theory behind large cluster production and the body of indirect evidence attributed to the presence of large clusters are not convincing by themselves. It is therefore concluded that a Takagi-type source does not produce large clusters in quantities capable of affecting film growth

    Progress on the Use of Combined Analog and Photon Counting Detection for Raman Lidar

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    The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program Raman Lidar (CARL) was upgraded in 2004 with a new data system that provides simultaneous measurements of both the photomultiplier analog output voltage and photon counts. The so-called merge value added procedure (VAP) was developed to combine the analog and count-rate signals into a single signal with improved dynamic range. Earlier versions of this VAP tended to cause unacceptably large biases in the water vapor mixing ratio during the daytime as a result of improper matching between the analog and count-rate signals in the presence of elevated solar background levels. We recently identified several problems and tested a modified version of the merge VAP by comparing profiles of water vapor mixing ratio derived from CARL with simultaneous sonde data over a six month period. We show that the modified merge VAP significantly reduces the daytime bias, and results in mean differences that are within approximately 1% for both nighttime and daytime measurements

    Gender and Videogames: The political valency of Lara Croft

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    The Face: Is Lara a feminist icon or a sexist fantasy? Toby Gard: Neither and a bit of both. Lara was designed to be a tough, self-reliant, intelligent woman. She confounds all the sexist cliches apart from the fact that she’s got an unbelievable figure. Strong, independent women are the perfect fantasy girls—the untouchable is always the most desirable (Interview with Lara’s creator Toby Gard in The Face magazine, June 1997)

    Proposals for Improvement of the Italian Roundabout Geometric Design Standard

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    AbstractThe paper presents a critical review of the Australasian, EU and US roundabout geometric design standards and guidelines and identifies inconsistencies of the Italian roundabout standard which deserve improvement. As a result, recommendations for improvement of the Italian standard are proposed. These recommendations are mainly based on the concepts of design flexibility and performance based design. Indeed, rigid standards which do not really take into account safety and operational consequences of the design decisions and the need to balance opposite demands might produce undesirable outcomes

    Pirnilu Nintipungkupayi (Everyone Is a Teacher): Keeping Old People's Spirit Healthy Through Education

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    In the Ngaanyatjarra Lands of desert Western Australia, older people are being encouraged to participate meaningfully in student education. This initiative is being led by two of the authors of this article, senior Ngaanyatjarra women, both of whom work with the Ngaanyatjarra Lands School with its campuses in eight remote communities spread over hundreds of kilometres. Elderly men and women, some of whom are residents in the Ngaanyatjarra Aged Care home (Ngaanyatjarra Health Service, 2021), are eagerly participating in the planning of bush trips, gathering their traditional resources, seeds, grinding stones, bush resins, recalling stories, songs, and dances - as they prepare for the bush camps with students. During the camps the schoolteachers step back and the elderly lead in what is known as two‐way science. At first glance, this work may look like it is simply focused on the educational needs of students with senior Yarnangu acting in a supporting role. However, this article will demonstrate the continuous connections and responsibilities, laid out in the Tjukurrpa (the Dreaming), between the old and the young, to their ancestral lands. It sets out how according to "Tjukurrpa thinking," the principal way to provide good care is by helping senior people remain on country with family, pass on their knowledge to younger people, and thus keep strong languages and kurrunpa (people's spirit) alive
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