Arm Pain and Weakness - Football

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Transforming identity through arts-informed, collaborative learning and reflection: case study of a Masters programme in innovation, creativity and leadership

This paper and the associate conference presentation review the initial findings of a PhD study in Professional Education, a mixed method, interdisciplinary project which aims to contribute to research on interdisciplinary pedagogy related to both teaching and enabling creativity. The research focuses on Creativity and the Creative Industries, the final module of City University London’s Masters in Innovation, Creativity and Leadership (MICL), an interdisciplinary Higher Education (HE) Masters designed for mature students with managerial experience. The module’s teaching includes collaborative, experiential arts workshops (eg drama, classical music, improvisation and art) to support the students’ group and individual artistic projects and final reflective journal and report. The paper outlines these theoretical propositions which inform the study’s data analysis (Yin, 2008, p.18): 1) That the module’s learning processes are artistic, unfamiliar, disruptive, embodied experiences 2) That the students create an applied understanding of their learning through reflection and personal narrative 3) That critical incidents in the students’ personal narratives will be expressed through metaphors of personal and professional identity 4) That both narrative (eg James and Brookfield, 2014, p.106, citing Kűbler-Ross’s (1997) Change Curve) and personal change models (eg Heron, 1992, p. 122) will usefully inform the analysis. The study’s primary analytical methodologies include content analysis (eg Charmaz, 2006), narrative analysis (Gregerson, 2013), thematic analysis (Van Manen, 2014) and critical incident analysis (Shiu, 2014) (Argyris, 1982; Bolton, 2014; Dewey, 1933; Downey & Clandinin, 2010; Dreyfus, 1996; James & Brookfield, 2014; King & Kitchener, 1994; McEwen et al., 2009; Merleau-Ponty, 1962/2002; Ricoeur, 2007; Schön, 1983, 1987). The research approach is consistent with work on threshold concepts (Meyer & Land, 2003), theory which links identity and narrative (eg Bruner, 2002; Boyd, 2009; Downey& Clandinin, 2010; Gottschall, 2012; Herman, 2013; McGilchrist, 2009) and arts-based and creativity research (eg Amabile, 1983; Bateson & Martin, 2015; Gregerson et al., 2013; Shiu, 2014; Sayer, 2012). The paper acknowledges the need for a reflexive approach, especially in HE and artistic contexts (eg Brookfield, 2010; Fleming, 2012; Foucault, 1980; Freire, 1970; Mezirow, 1998, 2000), as well as the risks of drawing broader lessons from a case study (Cohen, 2010; Yin, 2013). Consistent with this Track’s theme of ‘rattling’ HE and organisational development through the application of arts-based initiatives, I conclude by discussing whether shifts in the students’ narratives through the MICL programme and this might can be related to their personal and professional identities; and the degree to which these might in turn promote sustained impacts on their inter- and intrapersonal competence and self-efficacy

"Just So" Neutrino Oscillations Are Back

Recent evidence for oscillations of atmospheric neutrinos at Super-Kamiokande suggest, in the simplest see-saw interpretation, neutrino masses such that `just so' vacuum oscillations can explain the solar neutrino deficit. Super-K solar neutrino data provide preliminary support for this interpretation. We describe how the just-so signal---an energy dependent seasonal variation of the event rate, might be detected within the coming years and provide general arguments constraining the sign of the variation. The expected variation at radiochemical detectors may be below present sensitivity, but a significant modulation in the $^7$Be signal could shed light on the physics of the solar core---including a direct measure of the solar core temperature.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, 4 ps figs: new refs added, and Super-K energy resolution function incorporate

Effectiveness for detecting faults within and outside the scope of testing techniques: an independent replication

The verification and validation activity plays a fundamental role in improving software quality. Determining which the most effective techniques for carrying out this activity are has been an aspiration of experimental software engineering researchers for years. This paper reports a controlled experiment evaluating the effectiveness of two unit testing techniques (the functional testing technique known as equivalence partitioning (EP) and the control-flow structural testing technique known as branch testing (BT)). This experiment is a literal replication of Juristo et al. (2013).Both experiments serve the purpose of determining whether the effectiveness of BT and EP varies depending on whether or not the faults are visible for the technique (InScope or OutScope, respectively). We have used the materials, design and procedures of the original experiment, but in order to adapt the experiment to the context we have: (1) reduced the number of studied techniques from 3 to 2; (2) assigned subjects to experimental groups by means of stratified randomization to balance the influence of programming experience; (3) localized the experimental materials and (4) adapted the training duration. We ran the replication at the Escuela Politécnica del Ejército Sede Latacunga (ESPEL) as part of a software verification & validation course. The experimental subjects were 23 master?s degree students. EP is more effective than BT at detecting InScope faults. The session/program andgroup variables are found to have significant effects. BT is more effective than EP at detecting OutScope faults. The session/program and group variables have no effect in this case. The results of the replication and the original experiment are similar with respect to testing techniques. There are some inconsistencies with respect to the group factor. They can be explained by small sample effects. The results for the session/program factor are inconsistent for InScope faults.We believe that these differences are due to a combination of the fatigue effect and a technique x program interaction. Although we were able to reproduce the main effects, the changes to the design of the original experiment make it impossible to identify the causes of the discrepancies for sure. We believe that further replications closely resembling the original experiment should be conducted to improve our understanding of the phenomena under study

Three Dimensional Printing of Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt Using a Cobalt Oxide Precursor

Tungsten Carbide 10 wt% Cobalt parts were formed by Slurry-based Three Dimensional Printing (3DPTM). The slurry contained a mixture of Tungsten Carbide and Cobalt Oxide powders, as well as dispersing and redispersing agents. The cobalt oxide is fully reduced to cobalt metal during the early stages of the sintering process. A new binder system, polyethylenimine, is described for use with powders with acidic surfaces, such as WC. Sintered densities approach the theoretical values for WC-10% Co, and the microstructures produced are similar to those of conventionally processed (press and sinter) materials. Up to four parts were produced in a single print run using a layer thickness of 25 Pm, with good dimensional agreement between them, and within the range of target dimensions after sintering.Mechanical Engineerin

The Age Of Globular Clusters In Light Of Hipparcos: Resolving the Age Problem?

We review five independent techniques which are used to set the distance scale to globular clusters, including subdwarf main sequence fitting utilizing the recent Hipparcos parallax catalogue. These data together all indicate that globular clusters are farther away than previously believed, implying a reduction in age estimates. This new distance scale estimate is combined with a detailed numerical Monte Carlo study designed to assess the uncertainty associated with the theoretical age-turnoff luminosity relationship in order to estimate both the absolute age and uncertainty in age of the oldest globular clusters. Our best estimate for the mean age of the oldest globular clusters is now $11.5\pm 1.3$Gyr, with a one-sided, 95% confidence level lower limit of 9.5 Gyr. This represents a systematic shift of over 2 $\sigma$ compared to our earlier estimate, due completely to the new distance scale---which we emphasize is not just due to the Hipparcos data. This now provides a lower limit on the age of the universe which is consistent with either an open universe, or a flat, matter dominated universe (the latter requiring H_0 \le 67 \kmsmpc). Our new study also explicitly quantifies how remaining uncertainties in the distance scale and stellar evolution models translate into uncertainties in the derived globular cluster ages. Simple formulae are provided which can be used to update our age estimate as improved determinations for various quantities become available.Comment: 41 pages, including 10 eps figs, uses aaspp4.sty and flushrt.sty, submitted to Ap.J., revised to incorporate FULL Hipparcos catalogue dat