Fourth-Dimensional Education in Virtual Reality

This project was driven by an interest in mathematics, visualization, and the budding field of virtual reality. The project aimed to create virtual reality software to allow users to interact and play with three-dimensional representations of four-dimensional objects. The chosen representation was a perspective projection. Much like three-dimensional shapes cast two-dimensional shadows, four-dimensional shapes cast three-dimensional shadows. Users of the software developed in this project could interact and experiment with these three-dimensional shadows using hand controlled inputs. The hypothesis put forward is that virtual reality is currently the best medium to teach three-dimensional and four-dimensional geometry

Leveraging Lessons Learned from a Virtual Hands-on Outreach Program to Cultivate Diversity in the Next Generation of Structural Engineers

A challenge that continues to face the structural engineering (SE) profession is the recruitment and retention of individuals from underrepresented minority (URM) groups, underscored over the years by findings reported on by the SE3 project committee. One approach to address this is by developing and conducting early outreach efforts with diverse populations of K-12 students, so they are aware of SE’s meaningful contributions to society and the intriguing technical problem- solving opportunities in this field. During these educational activities it is also important for young students to be exposed to engineering practitioner-educators who represent diverse backgrounds and whose lived experience demonstrates a path forward for URM members in the industry. This paper focuses on a virtual outreach program offered in Summer 2021, that yields insights about facilitating middle and high school students in a hands-on earthquake engineering project as well as software programming activities. This week- long program was affiliated with the Cal Poly Engineering Possibilities in College (EPIC) summer camp which provides pre-college experiences to students, specifically from underrepresented backgrounds. The instructor team prototyped, manufactured, and shipped over 120 low-cost engineering kits so students could construct a shake table and building model as well as test their baseline and retrofitted designs. These hands-on activities accompanied lectures to help students understand earthquake hazard, seismic design of buildings, instrumentation, and data visualization among other topics. The curriculum, mail-home engineering kit details, and reflection on student performance will be discussed in the paper to provide readers with a guide for developing meaningful outreach experiences that engage diverse groups of students in exploring SE. The group of all-female instructors will also share their perspective on some potentially effective methods to recruit diverse engineers to participate in outreach: to achieve their aspirations of impact the next generation, cultivate their interest in the SE field, and thus, be motivated to persist and ascend in their careers

Therapeutic abortion on psychiatric grounds Part III. Implementing the Abortion and Sterilization Act (1975-1981)

This article reviews the experience of the Pregnancy Advisory Service (PAS) of the Department of Psychiatry, Groote Schuur Hospital. Demographic and personal data from the women referred to the PAS during the period 1975-1981 (since the passing of the Abortion and Sterilization Act of 1975) are recorded. Follow-up information from many of the 1 251 patients seen over this period confirms the findings of a previous report that in a significant percentage of cases in which awoman was refused legal abortion pregnancy did not proceed to term. For reasons which are not clear there has been a fall in the number of cases seen for assessment. The PAS performs a valuable function in enabling women to examine the circumstances of an unplanned pregnancy and in providing expert counselling

The Sandys White Paper of 1957 and the move to the British new look An analysis of nuclear weapons, conventional forces and strategic planning 1955-57

This study seeks to analyse the significance of the 1957 Defence White Paper in the context of British strategic planning during the mid-1950s. Claims that the White Paper represented a culmination of trends already prevalent in British defence planning are assessed while continuities and discontinuities in strategic policies are identified. This is done by highlighting the main features of the document and then tracing their development in the 1955-57 period. A major theme throughout is the relationship between the growing declaratory emphasis on nuclear deterrence and the determination of the shape and size of conventional forces and capabilities. It is contended that the defence decision making process that was in place prior to January 1957 was incapable of generating a British New Look - that is a consistent set of declaratory and action policies which reflected a cutback in conventional forces accompanied by a greater reliance on the threat of nuclear retaliation. Prior to Duncan Sandys becoming Minister of Defence, the inability of that ministry to readily impose itself on the service departments meant that the latter's attachment to preparations for global war and the national service programme could not be overruled. It is also unclear whether during the 1955-56 period the basis for a truly independent deterrent was being established. An analysis of the negotiations surrounding the 1957 White Paper indicates that Sandys was able to overrule traditional service preferences. The result was a policy which rejected the imposition of a conventional strategy on a nuclear one in favour of a British New Look. Consequently, conventional forces were reduced, greater relative importance was placed on the nuclear deterrent, but once more the requirements of a unilateral independent deterrent did not receive priority. (author)Includes bibliographical referencesSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DX220379 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo