The software-simulated airworld: anticipatory code and affective aeromobilities

This paper is concerned with the way in which airspaces are organised, managed, and understood by virtual representations - software simulations that are tested and used both preemptively and in real time. We suggest that, while airspaces are often understood as simulations themselves - models and blueprints for real-world futuresöthey are among the most mediated of all contemporary social environments, produced not only through code, but based on scenarios which predict and plan for future events - real virtualities that might come true. Drawing on historical and contemporary examples of aeronautical software simulation employed by civilian and military aviation, we explore how code has become increasingly sophisticated and ubiquitous in response to the challenges set by the mobilities the simulations model and the affective susceptibility of the corporeal body that uses them. The paper explores how software simulations work to structure and mediate behaviour by producing specific emotional and affective experiences in order to prepare the body for future encounters

Air space: towards a social and cultural geography of global air travel

Geographic research into commercial aviation has traditionally been undertaken within the field of transport geography. While such studies have shed light on the increasingly complex morphology of global air routes, this paper argues such approaches often downplay crucial questions concerning the social production and consumption of different spaces of air travel. Drawing on ideas from the newlyemergent ‘mobilities' paradigm, this paper identifies some alternative geographies of air travel, arguing that socially- and culturally-inflected perspectives may help reveal the iniquitous imprints of global air travel at a variety of spatial scales. We suggest that there is much to be gained by adopting such perspectives, and argue that work on the social dimensions of air travel is vital in a discipline where air transport is routinely described as an enabler of globalisation, yet is often treated as an abstract, and oddly disembodied, space of flows

A geometrical model of softwood anatomy for fluid mechanics simulations

This paper demonstrates a model of softwood geometry that can be used for multiscale modelling of the longitudinal movement of water through spruce wood. Previous results obtained from a high resolution X-ray CT scan and subsequent image analysis of a large number of Norway spruce tracheids were here used to produce a model that can represent the variability in wood anatomy found within a timber joist or log. A demonstration of that model is given

Activity, participation, and goal awareness after acquired brain injury : A prospective observational study of inpatient rehabilitation

Objective To examine the frequency and timing of inpatient engagement in meaningful activities within rehabilitation (within and outside of structured therapy times) and determine the associations between activity type, goal awareness, and patient affect. Methods This prospective observational study performed behavioral mapping in a 42-bed inpatient brain injury rehabilitation unit by recording patient activity every 15 minutes (total 42 hours). The participants were randomly selected rehabilitation inpatients with acquired brain injury; all completed the study. The main outcome measures included patient demographics, observation of activity, participation, goal awareness, and affect. Results The inpatients spent 61% of the therapeutic day (8:30 to 16:30) in their single room and were alone 49% of the time. They were physically socially inactive for 76% and 74% of their awake time, respectively, with neutral affect observed for about half of this time. Goal-related activities were recorded for only 25% of the inpatients’ awake time. The odds of physical activity were 10.3-fold higher among in patients receiving support to address their goals within their rehabilitation program (odds ratio=10.3; 95% confidence interval, 5.02–21.16). Conclusion Inpatients in a mixed brain injury rehabilitation unit spent a large amount of their awake hours inactive and only participated in goal-related activities for a quarter of their awake time. Rehabilitation models that increase opportunities for physical, cognitive, and social activities outside of allied health sessions are recommended to increase overall activity levels during inpatient rehabilitation

Evaluation of Three Primary Teachers’ Approaches to Teaching Scientific Concepts in Persuasive Ways

The research set out in this paper seeks to develop pedagogical knowledge regarding how persuasive teaching approaches can be developed in primary science classrooms. To achieve this, the paper examines three case studies in which the teachers have been charged to develop and implement teaching strategies designed to persuade their children of the usefulness and validity of target scientific concepts. The analysis probes the teachers’ choice of contexts and patterns of discourse using criteria drawn from the sociocultural literature. Outcomes of the study exemplify how the teachers’ choices of learning contexts fail to emphasise the functionality of the target concepts and as a consequence scant rewards are provided for the children to participate actively in conceptually rich discourse. The final part of the paper explores how the development of what the author calls theme-specific plots, could be used to help teachers to stage teaching and learning performances which emphasise the functionality of specific explanatory models