Second post-Newtonian gravitational radiation reaction for two-body systems: Nonspinning bodies

Starting from the recently obtained 2PN accurate forms of the energy and angular momentum fluxes from inspiralling compact binaries, we deduce the gravitational radiation reaction to 2PN order beyond the quadrupole approximation - 4.5PN terms in the equation of motion - using the refined balance method proposed by Iyer and Will. We explore critically the features of their construction and illustrate them by contrast to other possible variants. The equations of motion are valid for general binary orbits and for a class of coordinate gauges. The limiting cases of circular orbits and radial infall are also discussed.Comment: 38 pages, REVTeX, no figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Pedagogies of Design and Multiliterate Learner Identities

In an era of multiliteracies, teaching and learning have become knowledge performances at multiple levels. Instead of a singular, linear focus upon print technologies, the techno-oriented philosophy of teaching aims at providing a rhizomatic network of texts where there is a close link between, and often an overlap of, different designs—linguistic, visual, spatial, and gestural—to construct the multiliterate learner. In this paper, I discuss the role of multimodal literacies in a primary classroom, affirming the role of multiliteracies and decentring the pre-dominance of linguistic at the cost of other designs. While the print media are acknowledged as significant to literacy, the multimodality of print is enhanced through visual and spatial design (Kenner, 2004). Through graphic examples of ICT applications of designs in a primary classroom, I demonstrate that students are operating through multitextual and digitextual (Everett, 2003) practices. What follows is the complex positioning and re-situating of teacher and learner identities engaged in learning through the knowledge processes of experiencing, identifying, applying and critiquing concepts (Kalantzis & Cope, 2004). In particular, I argue that within the diversity of present day classrooms, the digital oriented, multiliterate learner is implicated in constant identity construction by drawing upon macro and micro social practices. I conclude by reiterating the significance of new technologies and new literacy practices as essential to the construction of new learner identities

Using ethnographic methods to explore masculinities at school: reflections on participant observation with young men in New Delhi, India

This paper outlines findings on masculinities and violence from my multi-method PhD study, which explored young people's experiences of learning about gender and sexuality in three co-educational, English-medium secondary schools in New Delhi, India. In particular, the paper discusses the value of including an ethnographic approach when exploring masculinities in the study. This includes reflections on my embodied experiences of doing research with 15-17 year old boys. In particular, I reflect on how these boys reacted to me as a woman who looked Indian but was not-quite Indian, and who seemed like an authority figure but did not act like one. In turn, I consider how my personal responses to their behaviour affected my participation, observation and interpretations within the schools. These reflections are part of the process described by Cornwall & Lindisfarne (1994), which involves linking my position as a gendered political agent, my gendered socialisation in the field, and the ways I reposition myself within an academic context