Locative systems using mobile phones

In the age of mobile media, artists interested in storytelling and place have been exploring various technologies to enable their locative media work. The author traces the aesthetic and technical background to these works and discusses recent RMIT projects, which work with a solar powered Bluetooth server to deliver their poetic psychogeographic stories

Individualized Music Relaxation and Composition as a Coping Skill for Survivors of Intimate Partner Abuse in and out of the Therapeutic Setting

In one day in 2016, there were 41,195 domestic violence victims reported in emergency shelters or transitional housing units within the United States. Many of these victims struggle with PTSD, stress, and anxiety. There is a need for creating a coping skill that can address traumatic responses in and out of the therapeutic setting. Creating a musical representation of a survivor’s internal safe space could be used as a coping skill to reduce trauma responses. The purpose of this study was to see if the creation of an individualized musical safe space as a coping skill could reduce stress of a person in and outside of the therapeutic setting. The researcher created a format to guide the composition process with the three participants. The researcher practiced using the coping skill with each participant. Stress levels were monitored using a STAI self-assessment while in-session, and showed statistically significant reduction of stress in the participants. The participants then used the coping skill outside of the therapeutic setting for 10 days. The participants self-reported through a survey and interview that the coping skill was helpful for reducing stress in their daily lives. Creating an individualized music and relaxation composition shows promise as a coping skill for reducing trauma responses, stress, and anxiety in domestic violence victims

Defect Sizing Using Distance-Gain-Size Diagrams for Flat-Bottomed Holes in a Solid: Theoretical Analysis and Experimental Verification

Although there are a number of potential pitfalls, the classical method of relating defect area to echo amplitude is still the most widely used method to size defects using ultrasonic pulse-echo techniques. In 1959 Krautkramer [1] was the first to introduce a set of curves (DGS diagrams) showing the variation of echo amplitude with range and target size. As Krautkramer made clear, such curves are dependent on transducer pulse shape. For the very far field he gave theoretical results assuming a fluid-like medium of propagation, but he had to resort to a large number of experimental measurements to construct the near field portion of the curves. Well known problems in using DGS diagrams include the sensitivity of echo amplitudes to target angular and lateral alignment and the need to construct a new set of curves for each transducer pulse shape. Furthermore, when sizing targets in solids there are likely to be errors if curves constructed assuming a fluid medium are used. In 1987, McLaren and Weight [2] gave an impulse-response method to predict echo amplitudes for arbitrary target position in the field and for any transducer pulse shape. Normally-aligned, flat-ended cylindrical targets and a fluid medium were assumed. More recently, Schmerr and Sedov [3,4] have calculated single frequency DGS diagrams for flat-bottomed holes (FBH’s), for both direct and water coupling, but the holes are assumed to be in a fluid-like material. Their method takes account of diffraction and refraction effects but not mode conversion. A more exact treatment of the effect of a solid medium of propagation on DGS diagrams has been given by Sumbatyan and Buyove [5] who developed DGS diagrams for disc-like targets using a boundary element method to solve the elastodynamic equations, but again, only for the case of continuous sinusoidal waves. One disadvantage of such an approach is that the calculations can be rather time consuming

Title IX Literacy: What Coaches Don’t Know and Need to Find Out

Celebrated by many and lamented by a vocal few, Title IX holds the distinction of being one of the few pieces of legislation passed by the United States Congress that has emerged as an iconic symbol unto itself. Despite broad familiarity with the term, it remains much less clear how many Americans have more than a superficial understanding of what the law requires. This study was pursued to determine the level of Title IX literacy among a constituency directly impacted by compliance or noncompliance with the legislation, that being college coaches. Results reveal that most college coaches do not have a basic knowledge of the application and extent of the law, have not been educated about Title IX through reliable educational mediums, and possess a desire to learn more and have candid and meaningful discussions about these issues. The lack of consistent and systematic education mechanisms may explain the tensions that arise so frequently around gender equity issues within college and university athletic departments

Reversible adsorption on a random site surface

We examine the reversible adsorption of hard spheres on a random site surface in which the adsorption sites are uniformly and randomly distributed on a plane. Each site can be occupied by one solute provided that the nearest occupied site is at least one diameter away. We use a numerical method to obtain the adsorption isotherm, i.e. the number of adsorbed particles as a function of the bulk activity. The maximum coverage is obtained in the limit of infinite activity and is known exactly in the limits of low and high site density. An approximate theory for the adsorption isotherms, valid at low site density, is developed by using a cluster expansion of the grand canonical partition function. This requires as input the number of clusters of adsorption site of a given size. The theory is accurate for the entire range of activity as long as the site density is less than about 0.3 sites per particle area. We also discuss a connection between this model and the vertex cover problem.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure

The technosocial mediascape: producing identities

This exegesis questions and explores the types of identities that are emerging as a result of human engagement with contemporary communications and media technology. These identities are communicated, shaped and defined by the way we appropriate and engage with a smorgasbord of communications and media consumption technologies which merge in our imaginations to form a technosocial mediascape. As artist and teacher, consumer and prosumer, I participate in the technosocial mediascape, along with colleagues, students, artists, friends and family members. As we produce, communicate and ultimately co-create that technosocial environment, how are we changed by this experience? We contribute to a diverse and globally circulating, but paradoxically transient parade of data and media that apparatuses and humans together bring into existence. How does this mediascape impact on human ontology and sociology? What are the different ‘positions’—relationships with the mediascape—that emerge? My method derives from analysis of my own experience as an engaged and flexible ‘position-taker’ within the technosocial mediascape. I analyse my own creative practice with reference to a range of modernist, postmodernist and media theories. The technosocial enshrines the idea that technology and human behaviour are not separable, and draws on many theoretical sources, including phenomenology, the philosophy of language, design theory and digital media theory. All media, and mediums, are technosocial, because they impact on the praxis of identity. However, a range of contemporary media and mediums are more explicitly technosocial, and that is where my focus lies. I will suggest that the role of language in technosocial contexts is peculiar, important and under-theorised. Our ‘linguistic apparatuses’ offer an alternate concept of technology to the ‘heavy modernism’ of Martin Heidegger. I will explore ways in which technosocial engagement privileges fluid identities which drift in and out of different but co-existing realities. Various types of ‘immersion’—some neo-baroque and some neo-romantic—contribute to technosocially-engaged identity construction. Thus, our engagement with the technosocial mediascape challenges received ideas about personal identity, and indeed, the nature of the real

A very luminous, highly extinguished, very fast nova - V1721 Aquilae

Fast novae are primarily located within the plane of the Galaxy, slow novae are found within its bulge. Because of high interstellar extinction along the line of sight many novae lying close to the plane are missed and only the brightest seen. One nova lying very close to the Galactic plane is V1721 Aquilae, discovered in outburst on 2008 September 22. Spectra obtained 2.69 days after outburst revealed very high expansion velocities (FWHM ~6450 km/s). In this paper we have used available pre- and post-outburst photometry and post-outburst spectroscopy to conclude that the object is a very fast, luminous, and highly extinguished A_V=11.6+/-0.2) nova system with an average ejection velocity of ~3400 km/s. Pre-outburst near-IR colours from 2MASS indicate that at quiescence the object is similar to many quiescent CNe and appears to have a main sequence/sub-giant secondary rather than a giant. Based on the speed of decline of the nova and its emission line profiles we hypothesise that the axis ratio of the nova ejecta is ~1.4 and that its inclination is such that the central binary accretion disc is face-on to the observer. The accretion disc's blue contribution to the system's near-IR quiescent colours may be significant. Simple models of the nova ejecta have been constructed using the morphological modelling code XS5, and the results support the above hypothesis. Spectral classification of this object has been difficult owing to low S/N levels and high extinction, which has eliminated all evidence of any He/N or FeII emission within the spectra. We suggest two possibilities for the nature of V1721 Aql: that it is a U Sco type RN with a sub-giant secondary or, less likely, that it is a highly energetic bright and fast classical nova with a main sequence secondary. Future monitoring of the object for possible RN episodes may be worthwhile, as would archival searches for previous outbursts.Comment: 9 pages 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&A. Abstract has been slightly shortened from published versio

Transient, unsettling and creative space: Experiences of liminality through the accounts of Chinese students on a UK-based MBA

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ The Author(s) 2009.This article explores the experiences of liminality through the accounts of Chinese students on a UK-based MBA programme. The transient nature of the MBA experience, as well as the international status of the Chinese student, is resonant with conceptualizations of liminality as ‘in between’ space. Based on semi-structured interviews with 20 MBA graduates who had subsequently returned to China with their qualification, we explored their perceptions of outcomes from the course and their experiences as international students on a programme imbued with western norms and values. Results support the unsettling yet creative implications of liminality, as well as the fragmented insecure nature of identities, as individuals pass through the MBA ‘rite of passage’ in terms of ‘becoming’ a manager and entering a new phase of career. Accounts suggest the creation of hierarchical structures within liminal space whereby Chinese students, through their positioning at the margin, have uncomfortable yet illuminating encounters with alterity. At the same time, they experience levels of ambiguity and uncertainty in the post-liminal phase of China-located employments, as new western-based managerial identities collide with dominant discourses of Chinese organization

Protocol for a pragmatic feasibility randomised controlled trial of peer coaching for adults with long-term conditions: PEER CONNECT.

INTRODUCTION: Patients with low levels of knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their health and well-being (activation) are more likely to have unmet health needs, delay seeking healthcare and need emergency care. National Health Service England estimates that this may be applicable to 25%-40% of patients with long-term health conditions. Volunteer peer coaching may support people to increase their level of activation. This form of intervention may be particularly effective for people with low levels of activation. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This single site, two-arm randomised controlled trial has been designed to assess the feasibility of conducting a definitive trial of volunteer peer health and well-being coaching for people with long-term health conditions (multiple sclerosis, rheumatic diseases or chronic pain) and low activation. Feasibility outcomes include recruitment and retention rates, and intervention adherence. We will measure patient activation, mental health and well-being as potential outcomes for a definitive trial. These outcomes will be summarised descriptively for each time point by allocated group and help to inform sample size calculation for the definitive trial. Criteria for progression to a full trial will be used. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been granted by the London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee, reference 21/LO/0715. Results from this feasibility trial will be shared directly with participants, presented at local, regional and national conferences and published in an open-access journal. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN12623577