Shifting practices and frames: literacy, learning and computer games

Digital culture and the online world have profound implications for contemporary notions of literacy, learning, and curriculum. The increasing integration of digital culture and technologies into young people’s lives reflects the energy and excitement offered by online worlds. Online forms of text and communication are shaping students’ experience of the world, including expectations and experiences about learning and literacy. While print literacies remain important, for schools to prepare students to participate in critical and agential ways in the contemporary and future world, they need also to teach them to be fully literate in digital and multimodal literacies, and at ease and in control in the online world. Computer games and other forms of digital games teach and exemplify multimodal forms of literacy. Schools can capitalise on their potential and work with them productively. Doing so, however, entails recognising the messy complexity of schooling and the practicalities of classroom lives. This chapter reports on a 3-year project in five schools concerned with literacy and computer games, and discusses the important role of teachers as on-the-ground leaders in pioneering new conceptions of literacy and curriculum change, and the importance of school structures and support to enable such change to happen.Arts, Education & Law Group, School of Education and Professional StudiesNo Full Tex

Forensic intelligence framework. Part II: study of the main generic building blocks and challenges through the examples of illicit drugs and false identity documents monitoring

The development of forensic intelligence relies on the expression of suitable models that better represent the contribution of forensic intelligence in relation to the criminal justice system, policing and security. Such models assist in comparing and evaluating methods and new technologies, provide transparency and foster the development of new applications. Interestingly, strong similarities between two separate projects focusing on specific forensic science areas were recently observed. These observations have led to the induction of a general model (Part I) that could guide the use of any forensic science case data in an intelligence perspective. The present article builds upon this general approach by focusing on decisional and organisational issues. The article investigates the comparison process and evaluation system that lay at the heart of the forensic intelligence framework, advocating scientific decision criteria and a structured but flexible and dynamic architecture. These building blocks are crucial and clearly lay within the expertise of forensic scientists. However, it is only part of the problem. Forensic intelligence includes other blocks with their respective interactions, decision points and tensions (e.g. regarding how to guide detection and how to integrate forensic information with other information). Formalising these blocks identifies many questions and potential answers. Addressing these questions is essential for the progress of the discipline. Such a process requires clarifying the role and place of the forensic scientist within the whole process and their relationship to other stakeholders

\u27Turning around\u27 to the affordances of digital games: English curriculum and students\u27 lifeworlds

The need for English and literacy curriculum to connect with young people\u27s lifeworlds to build bridges and frames of reference that connect traditional English curriculum with digital texts and literacies, are increasing priorities in curriculum frameworks in Australia and elsewhere. This paper reports on a project in which the authors worked with teachers and students in five secondary schools to research the ways in which digital games might be incorporated into the English curriculum. Central to this endeavour was \u27turning around\u27 to the affordances of digital games and their paratexts to understand how they can be understood as text and action. Drawing on classroom observations and literature in Games Studies and English curriculum we present a timely model and innovative heuristic that we argue facilitates teachers incorporating digital games into their English classrooms. We illustrate how each assists teachers in \u27turning around\u27 to digital games to make their English classrooms more relevant to students\u27 lifeworlds

From parameter space constraints to the precision determination of the leptonic Dirac CP phase

We discuss the precision determination of the leptonic Dirac CP phase $\delta_{CP}$ in neutrino oscillation experiments, where we apply the concept of ``CP coverage''. We demonstrate that this approach carries more information than a conventional CP violation measurement, since it also describes the exclusion of parameter regions. This will be very useful for next-generation long baseline experiments where for sizable $\sin^2 2 \theta_{13}$ first constraints on $\delta_{CP}$ can be obtained. As the most sophisticated experimental setup, we analyze neutrino factories, where we illustrate the major difficulties in their analysis. In addition, we compare their potential to the one of superbeam upgrades and next-generation experiments, which also includes a discussion of synergy effects. We find a strong dependence on the yet unknown true values of $\sin^2 2 \theta_{13}$ and $\delta_{CP}$, as well as a strong, non-Gaussian dependence on the confidence level. A systematic understanding of the complicated parameter dependence will be given. In addition, it is shown that comparisons of experiments and synergy discussions do in general not allow for an unbiased judgment if they are only performed at selected points in parameter space. Therefore, we present our results in dependence of the yet unknown true values of $\sin^2 2 \theta_{13}$ and $\delta_{CP}$. Finally we show that for $\delta_{CP}$ precision measurements there exist simple strategies including superbeams, reactor experiments, superbeam upgrades, and neutrino factories, where the crucial discriminator is $\sin^2 2 \theta_{13} \sim 10^{-2}$.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figure

Perturbation Theory of Neutrino Oscillation with Nonstandard Neutrino Interactions

We discuss various physics aspects of neutrino oscillation with non-standard interactions (NSI). We formulate a perturbative framework by taking \Delta m^2_{21} / \Delta m^2_{31}, s_{13}, and the NSI elements \epsilon_{\alpha \beta} (\alpha, \beta = e, \mu, \tau) as small expansion parameters of the same order \epsilon. Within the \epsilon perturbation theory we obtain the S matrix elements and the neutrino oscillation probability formula to second order (third order in \nu_e related channels) in \epsilon. The formula allows us to estimate size of the contribution of any particular NSI element \epsilon_{\alpha beta} to the oscillation probability in arbitrary channels, and gives a global bird-eye view of the neutrino oscillation phenomena with NSI. Based on the second-order formula we discuss how all the conventional lepton mixing as well as NSI parameters can be determined. Our results shows that while \theta_{13}, \delta, and the NSI elements in \nu_e sector can in principle be determined, complete measurement of the NSI parameters in the \nu_\mu - \nu_\tau sector is not possible by the rate only analysis. The discussion for parameter determination and the analysis based on the matter perturbation theory indicate that the parameter degeneracy prevails with the NSI parameters. In addition, a new solar-atmospheric variable exchange degeneracy is found. Some general properties of neutrino oscillation with and without NSI are also illuminated.Comment: manuscript restructured, discussion of new type of parameter degeneracy added. 47 page

Centrality dependence of charged-particle pseudorapidity distributions from d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_{NN})=200 GeV

Charged-particle pseudorapidity densities are presented for the d+Au reaction at sqrt{s_{NN}}=200 GeV with -4.2 <= eta <= 4.2$. The results, from the BRAHMS experiment at RHIC, are shown for minimum-bias events and 0-30%, 30-60%, and 60-80% centrality classes. Models incorporating both soft physics and hard, perturbative QCD-based scattering physics agree well with the experimental results. The data do not support predictions based on strong-coupling, semi-classical QCD. In the deuteron-fragmentation region the central 200 GeV data show behavior similar to full-overlap d+Au results at sqrt{s_{NN}}=19.4 GeV.Comment: 4 pages, 3figures; expanded discussion of uncertainties; added 60-80% centrality range; added additional discussion on centrality selection bia

Differential Transverse Flow in Central C-Ne and C-Cu Collisions at 3.7 GeV/nucleon

Differential transverse flow of protons and pions in central C-Ne and C-Cu collisions at a beam energy of 3.7 GeV/nucleon was measured as a function of transverse momentum at the SKM-200-GIBS setup of JINR. In agreement with predictions of a transversely moving thermal model, the strength of proton differential transverse flow is found to first increase gradually and then saturate with the increasing transverse momentum in both systems. While pions are preferentially emitted in the same direction of the proton transverse flow in the reaction of C-Ne, they exhibit an anti-flow to the opposote direction of the proton transverse flow in the reaction of C-Cu due to stronger shadowing effects of the heavier target in thr whole range of transverse momentum.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure