Telling stories: extending informed learning with narrative theory

Introduction. Learning design in the information profession may open new opportunities by addressing learners as whole persons with a historical past, a current situation, and future aspiration, with their own beliefs and values. These are, according to Paul Ricoeur, stories. Method. This conceptual paper explores the ideas of Ricoeur's hermeneutic phenomenology of narrative (a theoretical description), and Bruce's phenomenography of informed learning (a model of information literacy experience) as perspectives of meaning making. It suggests the use of narrative awareness as an enabler of informed learning. Analysis. This paper provides insights into the information learning experience by considering Bruce's seven faces of informed learning as aspects of the creative process of narrative that Ricoeur refers to as a mimesis. The paper highlights the holistic and creative process of narrative structure in enabling learners to orient themselves as information users. Conclusions. Understanding informed learning as a narrative construct offers an account of learners' experiences as a process of meaning making and narrative making in the formation of an unfolding identity through time. With this understanding, information professionals may be encouraged to incorporate narrative as a strategy for supporting learners navigate information spaces

A physically-motivated quantisation of the electromagnetic field on curved spacetimes

Recently, Bennett et al. [Eur. J. Phys. 37:014001, 2016] presented a physically-motivated and explicitly gauge-independent scheme for the quantisation of the electromagnetic field in flat Minkowski space. In this paper we generalise this field quantisation scheme to curved spacetimes.Working within the standard assumptions of quantum field theory and only postulating the physicality of the photon, we derive the Hamiltonian, H, and the electric and magnetic field observables, E and B, without having to invoke a specific gauge. As an example, we quantise the electromagnetic field in the spacetime of an accelerated Minkowski observer, Rindler space, and demonstrate consistency with other field quantisation schemes by reproducing the Unruh effect

A worldsheet for Kerr

We show that the Newman-Janis shift property of the exact Kerr solution can be interpreted in terms of a worldsheet effective action. This holds both in gravity, and for the single-copy $\sqrt{\text{Kerr}}$ solution in electrodynamics. At the level of equations of motion, we show that the Newman-Janis shift holds also for the leading interactions of the Kerr black hole. These leading interactions are conveniently described using chiral classical equations of motion with the help of the spinor-helicity method familiar from scattering amplitudes

Native American families in the city: American Indian socialization to urban life-final report.

This report, sponsored by the Minority Studies Center of the National Institute of Mental Health, was conceived, researched and written by Native Americans. To answer questions about the problems young Native American families were facing raising children, the authors conducted a three-year study of 120 families who resided primarily in Oakland, California, and the surrounding area. Some areas of interest in the study include Indian identity, experiences of Native American parents and children in the city, the urbanization process, and social policy recommendations

Importance of Madden–Julian oscillation phase to the interannual variability of East African rainfall

Precipitation across East Africa shows marked interannual variability. Seasonal forecast skill for the OND short rains is significantly higher than for the MAM long rains, which also exhibit poorly understood decadal variability. On sub-seasonal time-scales rainfall is influenced strongly by the phase of the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO); here we investigate whether this influence extends to interannual and decadal scales. We show that the number of days that the MJO is active and in phases 1–3 has a greater influence than the mean amplitude of the MJO on interannual long rains variability (ρ = 0.59 for the count of phases 1–3, compared to ρ = 0.40 for amplitude). The frequency of these days is linked to a newly identified gradient in Pacific sea-surface temperatures (SSTs), whose influence on long rains variability we show is itself mediated by the MJO. We develop a statistical model estimating East African rainfall from MJO state, and show that the influence of the MJO on seasonal rainfall extends to the short rains, and to a lesser extent also into January and February. Our results show the importance of capturing the SST-MJO phase relationship in models used for predictions of East African rainfall across time-scales, and motivate investigating this further

FOREWARNS: development and multifaceted verification of enhanced regional-scale surface water flood forecasts

Surface water flooding (SWF) is a severe hazard associated with extreme convective rainfall, whose spatial and temporal sparsity belie the significant impacts it has on populations and infrastructure. Forecasting the intense convective rainfall that causes most SWF on the temporal and spatial scales required for effective flood forecasting remains extremely challenging. National-scale flood forecasts are currently issued for the UK and are well regarded amongst flood responders, but there is a need for complementary enhanced regional information. Here we present a novel SWF-forecasting method, FOREWARNS (Flood fOREcasts for Surface WAter at a RegioNal Scale), that aims to fill this gap in forecast provision. FOREWARNS compares reasonable worst-case rainfall from a neighbourhood-processed, convection-permitting ensemble forecast system against pre-simulated flood scenarios, issuing a categorical forecast of SWF severity. We report findings from a workshop structured around three historical flood events in Northern England, in which forecast users indicated they found the forecasts helpful and would use FOREWARNS to complement national guidance for action planning in advance of anticipated events. We also present results from objective verification of forecasts for 82 recorded flood events in Northern England from 2013–2022, as well as 725 daily forecasts spanning 2019–2022, using a combination of flood records and precipitation proxies. We demonstrate that FOREWARNS offers good skill in forecasting SWF risk, with high spatial hit rates and low temporal false alarm rates, confirming that user confidence is justified and that FOREWARNS would be suitable for meeting the user requirements of an enhanced operational forecast

Topology and Wilson lines: global aspects of the double copy

The Kerr-Schild double copy relates exact solutions of gauge and gravity theories. In all previous examples, the gravity solution is associated with an abelian-like gauge theory object, which linearises the Yang-Mills equations. This appears to be at odds with the double copy for scattering amplitudes, in which the non-abelian nature of the gauge theory plays a crucial role. Furthermore, it is not yet clear whether or not global properties of classical fields - such as non-trivial topology - can be matched between gauge and gravity theories. In this paper, we clarify these issues by explicitly demonstrating how magnetic monopoles associated with arbitrary gauge groups can be double copied to the same solution (the pure NUT metric) in gravity. We further describe how to match up topological information on both sides of the double copy correspondence, independently of the nature of the gauge group. This information is neatly expressed in terms of Wilson line operators, and we argue through specific examples that they provide a useful bridge between the classical double copy and the BCJ double copy for scattering amplitudes.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figures. Some minor corrections have been implemente

The Weyl double copy from twistor space

The Weyl double copy is a procedure for relating exact solutions in biadjoint scalar, gauge and gravity theories, and relates fields in spacetime directly. Where this procedure comes from, and how general it is, have until recently remained mysterious. In this paper, we show how the current form and scope of the Weyl double copy can be derived from a certain procedure in twistor space. The new formalism shows that the Weyl double copy is more general than previously thought, applying in particular to gravity solutions with arbitrary Petrov types. We comment on how to obtain anti-self-dual as well as self-dual fields, and clarify some conceptual issues in the twistor approach

Power investment decisions under uncertain carbon policy: The effect of anticipated repeal and reinstatement of regulations

Political uncertainty over global greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation policy is likely to defer investment in cleaner technologies. It may also incentivise short-lived, high-cost interim investments while businesses wait for the uncertainty to subside. The range of possible policy responses to the issue has created uncertainty over the future of national mitigation pathways. Given that the electricity sector, globally, is a major emitter of GHGs, this represents a systematic risk to investment in electricity generation assets. This paper uses a real options analysis framework informed by a survey of experts conducted in Australia - used as a proxy to model the degree of the uncertainty- to investigate the optimal timing for investment in the conversion of a coal plant to a combined cycle gas turbine plant using the American-style option valuation method. The effect of market and political uncertainty is studied for the Clean Energy Act 2011 in Australia. Political uncertainty is addressed bimodally in terms of: (1) uncertainty over the repeal of the carbon pricing policy, and (2) if it is repealed, uncertainty over the reinstatement of the policy, to represent the effect of electoral cycles and the possibility of more stringent future global mitigation efforts. Results of the analysis show that although political uncertainty with respect to GHG mitigation policy may delay investment in the conversion of the coal plant, expectations over the reinstatement of the carbon pricing reduces the amount of option premium to defer the conversion decision