A controlled study of virtual reality in first-year magnetostatics

Stereoscopic virtual reality (VR) has experienced a resurgence due to flagship products such as the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and smartphone-based VR solutions like Google Cardboard. This is causing the question to resurface: how can stereoscopic VR be useful in instruction, if at all, and what are the pedagogical best practices for its use? To address this, and to continue our work in this sphere, we performed a study of 289 introductory physics students who were sorted into three different treatment types: stereoscopic virtual reality, WebGL simulation, and static 2D images, each designed to provide information about magnetic fields and forces. Students were assessed using preliminary items designed to focus on heavily-3D systems. We report on assessment reliability, and on student performance. Overall, we find that students who used VR did not significantly outperform students using other treatment types. There were significant differences between sexes, as other studies have noted. Dependence on students' self-reported 3D videogame play was observed, in keeping with previous studies, but this dependence was not restricted to the VR treatment.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to the 2019 Physics Education Research Conferenc

Simple, Dark, and Deep: Photographic Theorizations of As-Yet Schools

Within the space of this collective image/text article, 18 photographic imagemakers and 4 respondents consider deeply and dialogically a quote from William Ayers’ 2016 book Teaching with Conscience in an Imperfect World: An Invitation. The resulting constellation of images and words (1) realizes a space within which works of art, specifically photographs, operate as centers of meaning to generate educational implications, and (2) theorizes a pedagogy that resists unilateral prescriptions and is instead anchored around openness, expansion, and individualization. The paper begins with a few short pieces from Sarah Pfohl, including an overview of Ayers’ book and ideas from writings on progressive education, object-based teaching and learning, and close/slow looking to position works of art as sites of rich meaning. While contemporary schooling often drives toward monolithic, numerical representations of the learners in its care, the article employs postdigital gestures to argue that learners have more in common with works of art than numbers, and thus, attention to artworks can open valuable implications for teaching and learning. The diverse group of images that follow offer an emerging portrait of teaching practice as a set of constantly shifting constellations moving across deep time and space from the intensely specific to the wide. Four texts think more about schools, education, and art. Finally, there is a postscript from Bill Ayers himself

A Motion-Stabilized W-Band Radar for Shipboard Observations of Marine Boundary-Layer Clouds

Cloud radars at X, Ka and W-bands have been used in the past for ocean studies of clouds, but the lack of suitable stabilization has limited their usefulness in obtaining accurate measurements of the velocity structure of cloud particles and the heights of cloud features. A 94 GHz (W-band) radar suitable for use on shipboard studies of clouds has been developed that is small and lightweight and can maintain the radar’s beam pointing in the vertical to reduce the affects of the pitch and roll of the ship. A vertical velocity sensor on the platform allows the effects of the ship’s heave to be removed from the measured cloud particle motions. Results from the VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-Rex) field program on the NOAA vessel Ronald H. Brown demonstrate the improvements to the cloud measurements after the ship’s motion effects are removed. The compact design of the radar also makes it suitable for use in aircraft studies. The radar is being repackaged to fit in an aft bay of a NOAA P3 aircraft to observe sea-spray profiles during ocean storms.Keywords: VOCALS 2008, Shipboard motion stabilization, Marine boundary-layer clouds, Cloud rada

Gendered endings: Narratives of male and female suicides in the South African Lowveld

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11013-012-9258-y. Copyright @ Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012.Durkheim’s classical theory of suicide rates being a negative index of social solidarity downplays the salience of gendered concerns in suicide. But gendered inequalities have had a negative impact: worldwide significantly more men than women perpetrate fatal suicides. Drawing on narratives of 52 fatal suicides in Bushbuckridge, South Africa, this article suggests that Bourdieu’s concepts of ‘symbolic violence’ and ‘masculine domination’ provide a more appropriate framework for understanding this paradox. I show that the thwarting of investments in dominant masculine positions have been the major precursor to suicides by men. Men tended to take their own lives as a means of escape. By contrast, women perpetrated suicide to protest against the miserable consequences of being dominated by men. However, contra the assumption of Bourdieu’s concept of ‘habitus’, the narrators of suicide stories did reflect critically upon gender constructs

Near-Real Time Cloud Retrievals from Operational and Research Meteorological Satellites

A set of cloud retrieval algorithms developed for CERES and applied to MODIS data have been adapted to analyze other satellite imager data in near-real time. The cloud products, including single-layer cloud amount, top and base height, optical depth, phase, effective particle size, and liquid and ice water paths, are being retrieved from GOES- 10/11/12, MTSAT-1R, FY-2C, and Meteosat imager data as well as from MODIS. A comprehensive system to normalize the calibrations to MODIS has been implemented to maximize consistency in the products across platforms. Estimates of surface and top-of-atmosphere broadband radiative fluxes are also provided. Multilayered cloud properties are retrieved from GOES-12, Meteosat, and MODIS data. Native pixel resolution analyses are performed over selected domains, while reduced sampling is used for full-disk retrievals. Tools have been developed for matching the pixel-level results with instrumented surface sites and active sensor satellites. The calibrations, methods, examples of the products, and comparisons with the ICESat GLAS lidar are discussed. These products are currently being used for aircraft icing diagnoses, numerical weather modeling assimilation, and atmospheric radiation research and have potential for use in many other applications

Bodyweight Perceptions among Texas Women: The Effects of Religion, Race/Ethnicity, and Citizenship Status

Despite previous work exploring linkages between religious participation and health, little research has looked at the role of religion in affecting bodyweight perceptions. Using the theoretical model developed by Levin et al. (Sociol Q 36(1):157–173, 1995) on the multidimensionality of religious participation, we develop several hypotheses and test them by using data from the 2004 Survey of Texas Adults. We estimate multinomial logistic regression models to determine the relative risk of women perceiving themselves as overweight. Results indicate that religious attendance lowers risk of women perceiving themselves as very overweight. Citizenship status was an important factor for Latinas, with noncitizens being less likely to see themselves as overweight. We also test interaction effects between religion and race. Religious attendance and prayer have a moderating effect among Latina non-citizens so that among these women, attendance and prayer intensify perceptions of feeling less overweight when compared to their white counterparts. Among African American women, the effect of increased church attendance leads to perceptions of being overweight. Prayer is also a correlate of overweight perceptions but only among African American women. We close with a discussion that highlights key implications from our findings, note study limitations, and several promising avenues for future research

Sediment Delivery to Sustain the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta Under Climate Change and Anthropogenic Impacts

The principal nature-based solution for offsetting relative sea-level rise in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta is the unabated delivery, dispersal, and deposition of the rivers’ ~1 billion-tonne annual sediment load. Recent hydrological transport modeling suggests that strengthening monsoon precipitation in the 21st century could increase this sediment delivery 34-60%; yet other studies demonstrate that sediment could decline 15-80% if planned dams and river diversions are fully implemented. We validate these modeled ranges by developing a comprehensive field-based sediment budget that quantifies the supply of Ganges-Brahmaputra river sediment under varying Holocene climate conditions. Our data reveal natural responses in sediment supply comparable to previously modeled results and suggest that increased sediment delivery may be capable of offsetting accelerated sea-level rise. This prospect for a naturally sustained Ganges-Brahmaputra delta presents possibilities beyond the dystopian future often posed for this system, but the implementation of currently proposed dams and diversions would preclude such opportunities

Genome-wide association study identifies loci on 12q24 and 13q32 associated with Tetralogy of Fallot

We conducted a genome-wide association study to search for risk alleles associated with Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), using a northern European discovery set of 835 cases and 5159 controls. A region on chromosome 12q24 was associated (P = 1.4 × 10−7) and replicated convincingly (P = 3.9 × 10−5) in 798 cases and 2931 controls [per allele odds ratio (OR) = 1.27 in replication cohort, P = 7.7 × 10−11 in combined populations]. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the glypican 5 gene on chromosome 13q32 were also associated (P = 1.7 × 10−7) and replicated convincingly (P = 1.2 × 10−5) in 789 cases and 2927 controls (per allele OR = 1.31 in replication cohort, P = 3.03 × 10−11 in combined populations). Four additional regions on chromosomes 10, 15 and 16 showed suggestive association accompanied by nominal replication. This study, the first genome-wide association study of a congenital heart malformation phenotype, provides evidence that common genetic variation influences the risk of TO

Evaluation of expressive writing for postpartum health: A randomized controlled trial

Pregnancy, birth and adjusting to a new baby is a potentially stressful time that can negatively affect the health of women. There is some evidence that expressive writing can have positive effects on psychological and physical health, particularly during stressful periods. The current study aimed to evaluate whether expressive writing would improve women’s postpartum health. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with three conditions: expressive writing (n=188), a control writing task (n=213), or normal care (n=163). Measures of psychological health, physical health and quality of life were measured at baseline (6-12 weeks postpartum), 1 month and 6 months later. Ratings of stress were taken before and after the expressive writing task. Intent-to-treat analyses showed no significant differences between women in the expressive writing, control writing and normal care groups on measures of physical health, anxiety, depression, mood or quality of life at 1 and 6 months. Uptake and adherence to the writing tasks was low. However, women in the expressive writing group rated their stress as significantly reduced after completing the task. Cost analysis suggest women who did expressive writing had the lowest costs in terms of healthcare service use and lowest cost per unit of improvement in quality of life. Results suggest expressive writing is not effective as a universal intervention for all women 6-12 weeks postpartum. Future research should examine expressive writing as a targeted intervention for women in high-risk groups, such as those with mild or moderate depression, and further examine cost-effectiveness

Disorders of sex development : insights from targeted gene sequencing of a large international patient cohort

Background: Disorders of sex development (DSD) are congenital conditions in which chromosomal, gonadal, or phenotypic sex is atypical. Clinical management of DSD is often difficult and currently only 13% of patients receive an accurate clinical genetic diagnosis. To address this we have developed a massively parallel sequencing targeted DSD gene panel which allows us to sequence all 64 known diagnostic DSD genes and candidate genes simultaneously. Results: We analyzed DNA from the largest reported international cohort of patients with DSD (278 patients with 46, XY DSD and 48 with 46, XX DSD). Our targeted gene panel compares favorably with other sequencing platforms. We found a total of 28 diagnostic genes that are implicated in DSD, highlighting the genetic spectrum of this disorder. Sequencing revealed 93 previously unreported DSD gene variants. Overall, we identified a likely genetic diagnosis in 43% of patients with 46, XY DSD. In patients with 46, XY disorders of androgen synthesis and action the genetic diagnosis rate reached 60%. Surprisingly, little difference in diagnostic rate was observed between singletons and trios. In many cases our findings are informative as to the likely cause of the DSD, which will facilitate clinical management. Conclusions: Our massively parallel sequencing targeted DSD gene panel represents an economical means of improving the genetic diagnostic capability for patients affected by DSD. Implementation of this panel in a large cohort of patients has expanded our understanding of the underlying genetic etiology of DSD. The inclusion of research candidate genes also provides an invaluable resource for future identification of novel genes