69 research outputs found
Online ‘chat’ facilities as pedagogic tools
This article assesses the pedagogic value of the ‘chat’ facility in the Blackboard integrated learning platform. It draws on a case study carried out by the author in the 2001-2 academic session. A level three class in research methods involved students in group working away from class and student feedback indicated that more support was needed to coordinate this independent work, without compromising its independent character. The ‘chat’ facility seemed to hold out the possibility of enhancing conventional, class-based techniques for generating informal discussion between students and, more particularly, for the coordination of their activities between classes. The lecturer perceived the integration of the facility into delivery of the unit as highly problematic, however. The reasons for this are discussed and a number of explanations are considered. Possible solutions are put forward
Technical politics
This is the first monograph devoted to the work of one of the foremost contemporary advocates of contemporary critical theory, Andrew Feenberg. It focuses on Feenberg’s central concept, technical politics, and explores his suggestion that democratising technology design is key to a strategic understanding of the process of civilisational change. In this way, it presents Feenberg’s intervention as the necessary bridge between various species of critical constructivism and wider visions of the kind of change that are urgently needed to move human society onto a more sustainable footing. The book describes the development of Feenberg’s thought out of the tradition of Marx and Marcuse, and presents critical analyses of his main ideas: the theory of formal bias, technology’s ambivalence, progressive rationalisation, and the theory of primary and secondary instrumentalisation. Technical politics identifies a limitation of Feenberg’s work associated with his attachment to critique, as the opposite pole to a negative kind of rationality (instrumentalism). It concludes by offering a utopian corrective to the theory that can provide a fuller account of the process of willed technological transformation and of the author’s own idea of a technologically authorised socialism
Technical politics
This is the first monograph devoted to the work of one of the foremost contemporary advocates of contemporary critical theory, Andrew Feenberg. It focuses on Feenberg’s central concept, technical politics, and explores his suggestion that democratising technology design is key to a strategic understanding of the process of civilisational change. In this way, it presents Feenberg’s intervention as the necessary bridge between various species of critical constructivism and wider visions of the kind of change that are urgently needed to move human society onto a more sustainable footing. The book describes the development of Feenberg’s thought out of the tradition of Marx and Marcuse, and presents critical analyses of his main ideas: the theory of formal bias, technology’s ambivalence, progressive rationalisation, and the theory of primary and secondary instrumentalisation. Technical politics identifies a limitation of Feenberg’s work associated with his attachment to critique, as the opposite pole to a negative kind of rationality (instrumentalism). It concludes by offering a utopian corrective to the theory that can provide a fuller account of the process of willed technological transformation and of the author’s own idea of a technologically authorised socialism
Total Phenols, Antioxidant Capacity and Antibacterial Activity of Manuka Honey Chemical Constituents
WISE J163940.83-684738.6: A Y Dwarf identified by Methane Imaging
We have used methane imaging techniques to identify the near-infrared
counterpart of the bright WISE source WISEJ163940.83-684738.6. The large proper
motion of this source (around 3.0arcsec/yr) has moved it, since its original
WISE identification, very close to a much brighter background star -- it
currently lies within 1.5" of the J=14.90+-0.04 star 2MASS16394085-6847446.
Observations in good seeing conditions using methane sensitive filters in the
near-infrared J-band with the FourStar instrument on the Magellan 6.5m Baade
telescope, however, have enabled us to detect a near-infrared counterpart. We
have defined a photometric system for use with the FourStar J2 and J3 filters,
and this photometry indicates strong methane absorption, which unequivocally
identifies it as the source of the WISE flux. Using these imaging observations
we were then able to steer this object down the slit of the FIRE spectrograph
on a night of 0.6" seeing, and so obtain near-infrared spectroscopy confirming
a Y0-Y0.5 spectral type. This is in line with the object's
near-infrared-to-WISE J3--W2 colour. Preliminary astrometry using both WISE and
FourStar data indicates a distance of 5.0+-0.5pc and a substantial tangential
velocity of 73+-8km/s. WISEJ163940.83-684738.6 is the brightest confirmed Y
dwarf in the WISE W2 passband and its distance measurement places it amongst
the lowest luminosity sources detected to date.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, 20 September
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Scallops, schools and scholars : reflections on the emergence of a research-oriented learning project
Peer reviewedPostprin
Further Defining Spectral Type "Y" and Exploring the Low-mass End of the Field Brown Dwarf Mass Function
We present the discovery of another seven Y dwarfs from the Wide-field
Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Using these objects, as well as the first six
WISE Y dwarf discoveries from Cushing et al., we further explore the transition
between spectral types T and Y. We find that the T/Y boundary roughly coincides
with the spot where the J-H colors of brown dwarfs, as predicted by models,
turn back to the red. Moreover, we use preliminary trigonometric parallax
measurements to show that the T/Y boundary may also correspond to the point at
which the absolute H (1.6 um) and W2 (4.6 um) magnitudes plummet. We use these
discoveries and their preliminary distances to place them in the larger context
of the Solar Neighborhood. We present a table that updates the entire stellar
and substellar constituency within 8 parsecs of the Sun, and we show that the
current census has hydrogen-burning stars outnumbering brown dwarfs by roughly
a factor of six. This factor will decrease with time as more brown dwarfs are
identified within this volume, but unless there is a vast reservoir of cold
brown dwarfs invisible to WISE, the final space density of brown dwarfs is
still expected to fall well below that of stars. We also use these new Y dwarf
discoveries, along with newly discovered T dwarfs from WISE, to investigate the
field substellar mass function. We find that the overall space density of
late-T and early-Y dwarfs matches that from simulations describing the mass
function as a power law with slope -0.5 < alpha < 0.0; however, a power-law may
provide a poor fit to the observed object counts as a function of spectral type
because there are tantalizing hints that the number of brown dwarfs continues
to rise from late-T to early-Y. More detailed monitoring and characterization
of these Y dwarfs, along with dedicated searches aimed at identifying more
examples, are certainly required.Comment: 91 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
The unruptured intracranial aneurysm treatment score A multidisciplinary consensus
Objective: We endeavored to develop an unruptured intracranial aneurysm (UIA) treatment score (UIATS) model that includes and quantifies key factors involved in clinical decision-making in the management of UIAs and to assess agreement for this model among specialists in UIA management and research. Methods: An international multidisciplinary (neurosurgery, neuroradiology, neurology, clinical epidemiology) group of 69 specialists was convened to develop and validate the UIATS model using a Delphi consensus. For internal (39 panel members involved in identification of relevant features) and external validation (30 independent external reviewers), 30 selected UIA cases were used to analyze agreement with UIATS management recommendations based on a 5-point Likert scale (5 indicating strong agreement). Interrater agreement (IRA) was assessed with standardized coefficients of dispersion (v(r)*) (v(r)* 5 0 indicating excellent agreement and v(r)* = 1 indicating poor agreement). Results: The UIATS accounts for 29 key factors in UIA management. Agreement with UIATS (mean Likert scores) was 4.2 (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.1-4.3) per reviewer for both reviewer cohorts; agreement per case was 4.3 (95% CI 4.1-4.4) for panel members and 4.5 (95% CI 4.3-4.6) for external reviewers (p = 0.017). Mean Likert scores were 4.2 (95% CI 4.1-4.3) for interventional reviewers (n = 56) and 4.1 (95% CI 3.9-4.4) for noninterventional reviewers (n = 12) (p = 0.290). Overall IRA (v(r)*) for both cohorts was 0.026 (95% CI 0.019-0.033). Conclusions: This novel UIA decision guidance study captures an excellent consensus among highly informed individuals on UIA management, irrespective of their underlying specialty. Clinicians can use the UIATS as a comprehensive mechanism for indicating how a large group of specialists might manage an individual patient with a UIA.Peer reviewe
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