Mobile Augmented Reality: Hyper Contextualization and Situated Language Usage Events

Language use, second-language development, and technology mediated human activity are complex processes situated in, and in some cases demonstrably interwoven with, specific material and social contexts. Our presentation describes a project that focuses on the contextually embedded nature of communicative action. Building upon recent research on ethnomethodological analyses of talk-in-interaction while walking (Haddington et al., 2013), analyses of how communicative activity mediates our understanding of objects and environments (Nevile et al., 2014; Latour, 2005), principles of extended and embodied cognition (Atkinson, 2010), and existing research on the use of mobile place-based augmented reality (AR) techniques for language learning (Holden & Sykes, 2011; Thorne, 2013; Thorne et al., 2015), this paper investigates participants’ contextually aware interactional practices as they carry out an AR activity. In response to the question of when and how action is explicitly situated in, or catalyzed by, particular aspects of the physical surround, we report on members’ methods for making unplanned use of resources from the immediate physical context in order to co-construct actions (such as wayfinding and oral reporting) to accomplish the AR game goals

Rewilding Language Education: Emergent Assemblages and Entangled Actions

Integrating concepts and techniques from ethnomethodology and sociomaterialism, this article investigates the observable material processes involving human action and place-based contexts of language use enabled by locative media. The focal pedagogical intervention utilized mobile augmented reality (AR) activities, the development of which was inspired by research on learning 'in the wild.' Applying the principle of reverse engineering, we introduce a pedagogical approach termed 'rewilding' for its emphasis on designing supportive conditions for goal-directed interaction outside of classrooms. Three instances of AR materials use are presented from an out-of-class activity associated with university-level language courses involving a quest-type AR game called ChronoOps. Video data of 3-player groups were transcribed using conventions from multimodal conversation analysis. The empirical investigation illustrates meaning making through visible embodied displays, the performance of new actions through incorporation of public semiotic resources, and the contributions of the material surround as actants in the flow of interaction. Analysis illustrates that mobile AR activities enable languaging events among assemblages of environments, mobile devices, and embodied experience. We conclude by outlining the affordances of mobile AR activities as one example of rewilding approaches to creating material conditions for language use and learning

Compactification near and on the light front

We address problems associated with compactification near and on the light front. In perturbative scalar field theory we illustrate and clarify the relationships among three approaches: (1) quantization on a space-like surface close to a light front; (2) infinite momentum frame calculations; and (3) quantization on the light front. Our examples emphasize the difference between zero modes in space-like quantization and those in light front quantization. In particular, in perturbative calculations of scalar field theory using discretized light cone quantization there are well-known ``zero-mode induced'' interaction terms. However, we show that they decouple in the continuum limit and covariant answers are reproduced. Thus compactification of a light-like surface is feasible and defines a consistent field theory.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figure

Mobile Augmented Reality and Language-Related Episodes

Applications of locative media (e.g., place‐based mobile augmented reality [AR]) are used in various educational content areas and have been shown to provide learners with valuable opportunities for investigation‐based learning, location‐situated social and collaborative interaction, and embodied experience of place (Squire, 2009; Thorne & Hellermann, 2017; Zheng et al., 2018). Mobile locative media applications’ value for language learning, however, remains underinvestigated. To address this lacuna, this study employed the widely used construct of language‐related episodes (LREs; Swain & Lapkin, 1998) as a unit of analysis to investigate language learning through participation in a mobile AR game. Analysis of videorecorded interactions of four mixed‐proficiency groups of game players (two English language learners [ELLs] and one expert speaker of English [ESE] per group) indicates that LREs in this environment were focused on lexical items relevant to the AR tasks and physical locations. Informed by sociocultural theory and conversation analysis, the microgenesis of learners’ understanding and subsequent use of certain lexical items are indicated in the findings. This understanding of new lexical items was frequently facilitated by ESEs’ assistance and the surrounding physical environment. A strong goal orientation by both ESEs and ELLs was visible, providing implications for task‐based language teaching approaches

Tritium concentration measurements in the JET divertor by optical spectroscopy of a Penning discharge

Obtaining precision measurements of the relative concentrations of hydrogen, deuterium, tritium, and helium in the divertor of a tokamak are an important task for nuclear fusion research. Control of the deuterium-tritium isotopic ratio while limiting the helium ash content in a fusion plasma are key factors for optimizing the fuel burn in a fusion reactor, like the International Tokamak Experimental Reactor (ITER). A diagnostic technique has been developed to measure the deuterium-tritium isotopic ratio in the divertor of the Joint European Torus (JET) with a species-selective Penning vacuum gauge. The Penning discharge provides a source of electrons to excite the neutral hydrogen isotopes in the pumping duct. Subsequently, the visible light from the hydrogen isotopes is collected in an optical fiber bundle, transferred away from the tokamak into a low radiation background area, and analyzed in a high resolution Czerny-Turner spectrometer, which is equipped with a fast charge coupled device (CCD) camera for optical detection. The intensity of the observed line emission (D{sub {alpha}} -- 6561.03 {angstrom}; and T{sub {alpha}} -- 6560.44 {angstrom}) is directly proportional to the partial pressure of each gas found in the divertor. The line intensity of each isotope is calibrated as a function of pressure. The ratio of the line intensities thus provides a direct measurement of the deuterium-tritium isotopic ratio. The lower limit for the determination of the deuterium-tritium isotopic ratio is about 0.5%. The applicable pressure range for this system is from 10{sup {minus}5} mbar to a few times 10{sup {minus}3} mbar

The Heart Failure Epidemic

Heart failure has been singled out as an emerging epidemic, which could be the result of increased incidence and/or increased survival leading to increased prevalence. Knowledge of the responsibility of each factor in the genesis of the epidemic is crucial for prevention. Population-based studies have shown that, over time, the incidence of heart failure remained overall stable, while survival improved. Therefore, the heart failure epidemic is chiefly one of hospitalizations. Data on temporal trends in the incidence and prevalence of heart failure according to ejection fraction and how it may have changed over time are needed while interventions should focus on reducing the burden of hospitalizations in hear failure