The Value of Literacy Practices

The concepts of literacy events and practices have received considerable attention in educational research and policy. In comparison, the question of value, that is, ‘which literacy practices do people most value?’ has been neglected. With the current trend of cross-cultural adult literacy assessment, it is increasingly important to recognise locally valued literacy practices. In this paper we argue that measuring preferences and weighting of literacy practices provides an empirical and democratic basis for decisions in literacy assessment and curriculum development and could inform rapid educational adaptation to changes in the literacy environment. The paper examines the methodological basis for investigating literacy values and its potential to inform cross-cultural literacy assessments. The argument is illustrated with primary data from Mozambique. The correlation between individual values and respondents’ socio-economic and demographic characteristics is explored

Higher Descent Data as a Homotopy Limit

We define the 2-groupoid of descent data assigned to a cosimplicial 2-groupoid and present it as the homotopy limit of the cosimplicial space gotten after applying the 2-nerve in each cosimplicial degree. This can be applied also to the case of $n$-groupoids thus providing an analogous presentation of "descent data" in higher dimensions.Comment: Appeared in JHR

Literacy under and over the desk: oppositions and heterogeneity

In this paper I argue that a dominant theme in New Literacy Studies research, the differences between literacy practices inside and outside school, has sometimes involved conflating ‘home literacy’ with private, unregulated ‘vernacular literacy’, and the use of an idealised abstract notion of schooled literacy to represent students’ actual everyday experience in the classroom. Drawing on linguistic ethnographic research in two British primary schools, I use examples of ‘unofficial’ and ‘official’ literacy activities from 10-11 year-olds to show that a wide range of different forms of literacy can be found in the classroom and I argue that the division between ‘vernacular’ and ‘schooled’ is not as clear-cut as is sometimes assumed. My analysis of children’s literacy activities suggests that, on the one hand, unofficial activities orientate towards and index official knowledges and the macro-level institutional order and, on the other hand, official activities are interpenetrated with informal practices and procedures. I also comment on some implications of using the New Literacy Studies ‘events and practices’ conceptual framework for understanding what is going on in classrooms

Characterization of Lubricants on Ball Bearings by FT-IR Using an Integrating Sphere

Fourier Transform-Infrared reflectance microspectroscopy has been used extensively for the examination of coatings on nonplanar surfaces such as ball bearings. While this technique offers considerable advantages, practical application has many drawbacks, some of which are easily overcome by the use of integrating sphere technology. This paper describes the use of an integrating sphere for the quantification of thin layers of lubricant on the surface of ball bearings and the parameters which require optimization in order to obtain reliable data. Several applications of the technique are discussed including determination of lubricant load on 12.7 mm steel ball bearings and the examination of degraded lubricant on post mortem specimens

Impact of Rubin Observatory LSST Template Acquisition Strategies on Early Science from the Transients and Variable Stars Science Collaboration: Non-time-critical Science Cases

Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time, LSST, will revolutionize modern astronomy by producing an extremely deep (coadded depth ~27 mag) depth-limited survey of the entire southern sky (LSST Science Collaboration et al. 2009). The 8.4 m large-aperture, wide-field telescope, which is based in Cerro Pachón, will image the entire Southern sky every three nights in multiple bands (SDSS-u, g, r, i, z, y) and produce a fire-hose of data, 20 Tb each night, concluding in a 60 petabyte data set as the legacy of the 10 yr survey. Extracting meaningful light curves from variable objects requires difference imaging to both identify variability and calibrate light curve data products. Templates, co-added groups of visits that act as an image of the "static" sky, are a key component of Difference Imaging Analysis (DIA) and as such are of paramount importance for all science that involves variable objects. As the "non-time-critical" science cases discussed here are mostly periodic, they generally do not depend upon the survey alert stream; however, templates are still crucial for performing science and calibrations during the first year. We provide recommendations for observing strategies for template acquisition starting from commissioning and through Year 1 of the survey

Three qubit entanglement within graphical Z/X-calculus

The compositional techniques of categorical quantum mechanics are applied to analyse 3-qubit quantum entanglement. In particular the graphical calculus of complementary observables and corresponding phases due to Duncan and one of the authors is used to construct representative members of the two genuinely tripartite SLOCC classes of 3-qubit entangled states, GHZ and W. This nicely illustrates the respectively pairwise and global tripartite entanglement found in the W- and GHZ-class states. A new concept of supplementarity allows us to characterise inhabitants of the W class within the abstract diagrammatic calculus; these method extends to more general multipartite qubit states.Comment: In Proceedings HPC 2010, arXiv:1103.226

Analysis of Space Station Centrifuge Rotor Bearing Systems: A Case Study

A team of NASA bearing and lubrication experts was assembled to assess the risk for the rolling-element bearings used in the International Space Station (ISS) centrifuge rotor (CR) to seize or otherwise fail to survive for the required 10-year life. The CR was designed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and their subcontractor, NEC Toshiba Space Systems, Ltd. (NTSpace). The NASA team performed a design audit for the most critical rolling-element bearing systems and reviewed the lubricant selected. There is uncertainty regarding the ability of the Braycote 601 grease (Castrol Limited) to reliably provide the 10-year continuous life required without relubrication of the system. The fatigue life of the Rotor Shaft Assembly (RSA) spring loaded face-to-face mount at a 99-percent probability of survival (L1 life) for the ball bearing set was estimated at 700 million hours and the single ball bearing (Row 3) at 58 million hours. These lives satisfy the mission requirements for fatigue. Rolling-element seizure tests on the RSA and fluid slip joint bearings were found unlikely to stop the centrifuge, which can cause damage to the ISS structure. The spin motor encoder duplex angular-contact ball bearings have a hard preload and a large number of small balls have the highest risk of failure. These bearings were not tested for seizure even though they are less tolerant to debris or internal clearance reductions

The Role of Nutrition on Thyroid Function

Thyroid function is closely linked to nutrition through the diet-gut-thyroid axis. This narrative review highlights the influence of nutritional components and micronutrients on thyroid development and function, as well as on the gut microbiota. Micronutrients such as iodine, selenium, iron, zinc, copper, magnesium, vitamin A, and vitamin B12 influence thyroid hormone synthesis and regulation throughout life. Dietary changes can alter the gut microbiota, leading not just to dysbiosis and micronutrient deficiency but also to changes in thyroid function through immunological regulation, nutrient absorption, and epigenetic changes. Nutritional imbalance can lead to thyroid dysfunction and/or disorders, such as hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, and possibly contribute to autoimmune thyroid diseases and thyroid cancer, yet controversial issues. Understanding these relationships is important to rationalize a balanced diet rich in essential micronutrients for maintaining thyroid health and preventing thyroid-related diseases. The synthetic comprehensive overview of current knowledge shows the importance of micronutrients and gut microbiota for thyroid function and uncovers potential gaps that require further investigation

The Capaciousness of No: Affective Refusals as Literacy Practices

© 2020 The Authors. Reading Research Quarterly published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Literacy Association The authors considered the capacious feeling that emerges from saying no to literacy practices, and the affective potential of saying no as a literacy practice. The authors highlight the affective possibilities of saying no to normative understandings of literacy, thinking with a series of vignettes in which children, young people, and teachers refused literacy practices in different ways. The authors use the term capacious to signal possibilities that are as yet unthought: a sense of broadening and opening out through enacting no. The authors examined how attention to affect ruptures humanist logics that inform normative approaches to literacy. Through attention to nonconscious, noncognitive, and transindividual bodily forces and capacities, affect deprivileges the human as the sole agent in an interaction, thus disrupting measurements of who counts as a literate subject and what counts as a literacy event. No is an affective moment. It can signal a pushback, an absence, or a silence. As a theoretical and methodological way of thinking/feeling with literacy, affect proposes problems rather than solutions, countering solution-focused research in which the resistance is to be overcome, co-opted, or solved. Affect operates as a crack or a chink, a tiny ripple, a barely perceivable gesture, that can persist and, in doing so, hold open the possibility for alternative futures

Nutritional Assessment During a 14-d Saturation Dive: the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operation V Project

Ground-based analogs of spaceflight are an important means of studying physiological and nutritional changes associated with space travel, particularly since exploration missions are anticipated, and flight research opportunities are limited. A clinical nutritional assessment of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operation V (NEEMO) crew (4 M, 2 F) was conducted before, during, and after the 14-d saturation dive. Blood and urine samples were collected before (D-12 and D-1), during (MD 7 and MD 12), and after (R + 0 and R + 7) the dive. The foods were typical of the spaceflight food system. A number of physiological changes were reported both during the dive and post dive that are also commonly observed during spaceflight. Serum hemoglobin and hematocrit were decreased (P less than 0.05) post dive. Serum ferritin and ceruloplasmin significantly increased during the dive, while transferring receptors tended to go down during the dive and were significantly decreased by the last day (R + 0). Along with significant hematological changes, there was also evidence for increased oxidative damage and stress during the dive. 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine was elevated (P less than 0.05) during the dive, while glutathione peroxidase and superoxide disrnutase activities were decreased (P less than 0.05) during the dive. Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration also tended to increase during the dive, suggesting the presence of a stress-induced inflammatory response, Decreased leptin during the dive (P less than 0.05) may also be related to the increased stress. Similar to what is observed during spaceflight, subjects had decreased energy intake and weight loss during the dive. Together, these similarities to spaceflight provide a model to further define the physiological effects of spaceflight and investigate potential countermeasures