Experiential learning in professional Rugby Union

The aim of this thesis was to understand the role played by experiential learning in professional Rugby Union. Furthermore, to understand how performance information is utilised by coaches and athletes in every day practice. The thesis employed an ethnographic research method, utilising extensive participant observation, interviews, and document analysis. The thesis draws significantly on the theoretical tools of Schön, Bourdieu and Foucault. The key results and findings were that coaches used performance related information as a technology of self , and inculcated a hegemonic ideology. Furthermore, power relations were found and manifested inside the coach / athlete relation that reinforced the coaches spatial and temporal dominance. These dominant power relations were legitimised through the omnipresent ideology, and thus reproduced by the players and coaches. While evidence of experiential learning was documented, particularly with the academy players, the social location of practice marginalised the value of experiential learning in the coaching process. This was because performance information and the use of video based reflection were consistently used as tools of coaching authority, discipline and symbolic violence

Backdoor detection systems for embedded devices

A system is said to contain a backdoor when it intentionally includes a means to trigger the execution of functionality that serves to subvert its expected security. Unfortunately, such constructs are pervasive in software and systems today, particularly in the firmware of commodity embedded systems and “Internet of Things” devices. The work presented in this thesis concerns itself with the problem of detecting backdoor-like constructs, specifically those present in embedded device firmware, which, as we show, presents additional challenges in devising detection methodologies. The term “backdoor”, while used throughout the academic literature, by industry, and in the media, lacks a rigorous definition, which exacerbates the challenges in their detection. To this end, we present such a definition, as well as a framework, which serves as a basis for their discovery, devising new detection techniques and evaluating the current state-of-the-art. Further, we present two backdoor detection methodologies, as well as corresponding tools which implement those approaches. Both of these methods serve to automate many of the currently manual aspects of backdoor identification and discovery. And, in both cases, we demonstrate that our approaches are capable of analysing device firmware at scale and can be used to discover previously undocumented real-world backdoors

Infinite-redshift localized states of Dirac fermions under Einsteinian gravity

We present a set of localized states for an even number of Dirac fermions under Einsteinian gravity that have an infinite central redshift. Near the center of the localized state the components of the Dirac spinor and the spacetime metric all show simple power-law dependences on the radial distance; further out the fermionic wave function decays to zero and the spacetime becomes asymptotically flat. We show that this "central"solution of the equations of motion can be used to understand much of the structure observed by Finster, Smoller, and Yau [Phys. Rev. D 59, 104020 (1999)] in their numerical solutions of the same problem at finite central redshift.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

SAIC final technical report : Survey Monkey

The report provides detailed answers to standard report questions for the period 2013-2016 for the project “Urban upgrading for violence prevention in South Africa: Does it work?” The diversity of context explored by this study allowed it to examine situations where very similar interventions resulted in quite different outcomes resulting from pre-existing community networks and entrenched patterns of local cohesion. Implications of the study are taken into account in terms of socio-economics, gender, policy, and engagement with other research and researchers

Near-future level of CO2-driven ocean acidification radically affects larval survival and development in the brittlestar Ophiothrix fragilis

The world's oceans are slowly becoming more acidic. In the last 150 yr, the pH of the oceans has dropped by similar to 0.1 units, which is equivalent to a 25 % increase in acidity. Modelling predicts the pH of the oceans to fall by 0.2 to 0.4 units by the year 2100. These changes will have significant effects on marine organisms, especially those with calcareous skeletons such as echinoderms. Little is known about the possible long-term impact of predicted pH changes on marine invertebrate larval development. Here we predict the consequences of increased CO2 (corresponding to pH drops of 0.2 and 0.4 units) on the larval development of the brittlestar Ophiothrix fragilis, which is a keystone species occurring in high densities and stable populations throughout the shelf seas of northwestern Europe (eastern Atlantic). Acidification by 0.2 units induced 100 % larval mortality within 8 d while control larvae showed 70 % survival over the same period. Exposure to low pH also resulted in a temporal decrease in larval size as well as abnormal development and skeletogenesis (abnormalities, asymmetry, altered skeletal proportions). If oceans continue to acidify as expected, ecosystems of the Atlantic dominated by this keystone species will be seriously threatened with major changes in many key benthic and pelagic ecosystems. Thus, it may be useful to monitor O. fragilis populations and initiate conservation if needed

Analyzing kinetic signaling data for G-protein-coupled receptors

In classical pharmacology, bioassay data are fit to general equations (e.g. the dose response equation) to determine empirical drug parameters (e.g. EC50 and Emax), which are then used to calculate chemical parameters such as affinity and efficacy. Here we used a similar approach for kinetic, time course signaling data, to allow empirical and chemical definition of signaling by G-protein-coupled receptors in kinetic terms. Experimental data are analyzed using general time course equations (model-free approach) and mechanistic model equations (mechanistic approach) in the commonly-used curve-fitting program, GraphPad Prism. A literature survey indicated signaling time course data usually conform to one of four curve shapes: the straight line, association exponential curve, rise-and-fall to zero curve, and rise-and-fall to steady-state curve. In the model-free approach, the initial rate of signaling is quantified and this is done by curve-fitting to the whole time course, avoiding the need to select the linear part of the curve. It is shown that the four shapes are consistent with a mechanistic model of signaling, based on enzyme kinetics, with the shape defined by the regulation of signaling mechanisms (e.g. receptor desensitization, signal degradation). Signaling efficacy is the initial rate of signaling by agonist-occupied receptor (kτ), simply the rate of signal generation before it becomes affected by regulation mechanisms, measurable using the model-free analysis. Regulation of signaling parameters such as the receptor desensitization rate constant can be estimated if the mechanism is known. This study extends the empirical and mechanistic approach used in classical pharmacology to kinetic signaling data, facilitating optimization of new therapeutics in kinetic terms