Mediated intimacy: Sex advice in media culture

The bold argument of Mediated Intimacy (Barker et al., 2018)1 is that media of various kinds play an increasingly important role in shaping people’s knowledge, desires, practices and expectations about intimate relationships. While arguments rage about the nature and content of sex and relationship education in schools, it is becoming clear that more and more of us – young and old – look not to formal education, or even to our friends, for information about sex, but to the media (Albury, 2016; Attwood et al., 2015). This is not simply a matter of media ‘advice’ in the form of self-help books, magazine problem pages, or online ‘agony’ columns – though these are all proliferating and are discussed at length in the book. It is also about the wider cultural habitat of images, ideas and discourses about intimacy that circulate through and across media: the ‘happy endings’ of romantic comedies; the ‘money shots’ of pornography; the celebrity gossip about who is seeing whom, who is ‘cheating’, and who is looking ‘hot’; the lifestyle TV about ‘embarrassing bodies’ or being ‘undateable’; the newspaper features on how to have a ‘good’ divorce or ‘ten things never to say on a first date’; the new apps that incite us to quantify and rate our sex lives, and so forth. These constitute the ‘taken for granted’ of everyday understandings of intimacy, and they are at the heart of Mediated Intimacy

Standard and Non-standard Extensions of Lie algebras

We study the problem of quadruple extensions of simple Lie algebras. We find that, adding a new simple root $\alpha_{+4}$, it is not possible to have an extended Kac-Moody algebra described by a Dynkin-Kac diagram with simple links and no loops between the dots, while it is possible if $\alpha_{+4}$ is a Borcherds imaginary simple root. We also comment on the root lattices of these new algebras. The folding procedure is applied to the simply-laced triple extended Lie algebras, obtaining all the non-simply laced ones. Non- standard extension procedures for a class of Lie algebras are proposed. It is shown that the 2-extensions of $E_{8}$, with a dot simply linked to the Dynkin-Kac diagram of $E_{9}$, are rank 10 subalgebras of $E_{10}$. Finally the simple root systems of a set of rank 11 subalgebras of $E_{11}$, containing as sub-algebra $E_{10}$, are explicitly written.Comment: Revised version. Inaccurate statements corrected. Expanded version with added reference

MAGMO: Coherent magnetic fields in the star forming regions of the Carina-Sagittarius spiral arm tangent

We present the pilot results of the `MAGMO' project, targeted observations of ground-state hydroxyl masers towards sites of 6.7-GHz methanol maser emission in the Carina-Sagittarius spiral arm tangent, Galactic longitudes 280 degrees to 295 degrees. The `MAGMO' project aims to determine if Galactic magnetic fields can be traced with Zeeman splitting of masers associated with star formation. Pilot observations of 23 sites of methanol maser emission were made, with the detection of ground-state hydroxyl masers towards 11 of these and six additional offset sites. Of these 17 sites, nine are new detections of sites of 1665-MHz maser emission, three of them accompanied by 1667-MHz emission. More than 70% of the maser features have significant circular polarization, whilst only ~10% have significant linear polarization (although some features with up to 100% linear polarization are found). We find 11 Zeeman pairs across six sites of high-mass star formation with implied magnetic field strengths between -1.5 mG and +3.8 mG and a median field strength of +1.6 mG. Our measurements of Zeeman splitting imply that a coherent field orientation is experienced by the maser sites across a distance of 5.3+/-2.0 kpc within the Carina-Sagittarius spiral arm tangent.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Ground Measurements of the Shock-Wave Noise from Airplanes in Level Flight at Mach Numbers to 1.4 and at Altitudes to 45000 Feet

Time histories of noise pressures near ground level were measured during flight tests of fighter-type airplanes over fairly flat, partly wooded terrain in the e Mach number range between 1.13 and 1.4 and at altitudes from 25,000 to 45,000 feet. Atmospheric soundings and radar tracking studies were made for correlation with the measured noise data. The measured and calculated values of the pressure rise across the shock wave were generally in good agreement. There is a tendency for the theory to overestimate the pressure at locations remote from the track and to underestimate the pressures for conditions of high tailwind at altitude. The measured values of ground-reflection factor averaged about 1.8 f or the surface tested as compared to a theoretical value of 2.0. P o booms were measured in all cases. The observers also generally reported two booms; although, in some cases, only one boom was reported. The shock-wave noise associated with some of the flight tests was judged to be objectionable by ground observers, and in one case the cracking of a plate-glass store window was correlated in time with the passage of the airplane at an altitude of 25,000 feet

Visualisation and auralisation of architectural design in a game engine based collaborative virtual environment

This paper describes the development of collaborative virtual environment (CVE) software based on a game engine to support the early stages of design in the context of architectural education. The precedent of narrative drawing technique in architecture is introduced. From this we position the use of a CVE as a means to explore design context in a manner that is not possible when using typical architectural visualization software. Outcomes from software trials are reported that establish the value of working in a real time environment where design iterations can be tested from multiple points of view, and the important role of 3D sound to evoke occupancy and materiality. Negative results are reported in relation to collaborative design functionality and a revised approach based on an integrated project database is described

Creative inquiry in applied linguistics : language, communication and the arts

In this chapter we consider what creative inquiry in applied linguistics is, how creative inquiry has been used in applied linguistics research and how it might extend our understandings of communication and language in relation to ‘real-world problems’ (Brumfit 1995: 27). We present a diverse body of applied linguistics research from a range of contexts which works with, into and through the arts in multiple ways. By considering these projects, broad-ranging in scope, in place and in questions, and grounded in different forms of arts practice, we ask what the relationship is between communication and creative arts and, importantly, what the affordances of this relationship might be for the field of applied linguistics. This chapter therefore offers an introductory discussion of work engaging with creative inquiry and sets out some theoretical considerations for this emerging body of research and practice

Large Magnetic Fields and Motions of OH Masers in W75 N

We report on a second epoch of VLBA observations of the 1665 and 1667 MHz OH masers in the massive star-forming region W75 N. We find evidence to confirm the existence of very strong (~40 mG) magnetic fields near source VLA 2. The masers near VLA 2 are dynamically distinct and include a very bright spot apparently moving at 50 km/s relative to those around VLA 1. This fast-moving spot may be an example of a rare class of OH masers seen in outflows in star-forming regions. Due to the variability of these masers and the rapidity of their motions, tracking these motions will require multiple observations over a significantly shorter time baseline than obtained here. Proper motions of the masers near VLA 1 are more suggestive of streaming along magnetized shocks rather than Keplerian rotation in a disk. The motions of the easternmost cluster of masers in W75 N (B) may be tracing slow expansion around an unseen exciting source.Comment: 7 pages including 4 figures (2 color) & 3 tables, to appear in Ap