Music and drama in primary schools in the Madeira Island - Narratives of ownership and leadership

Este artigo foi uma das publicações resultantes do projeto financiado pela FCT "Música e Drama no 1º ciclo do Ensino básico – o caso da Região Autónoma da Madeira" (PTDC/CED/72112/2006).A three-year-case study funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) from the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education was designed to study a 30-year project of music and drama in primary schools in Madeira. This article reports on the narratives of the three main figures in the project as they elaborate on its construction according to the following themes: innovation, philosophies of music education and teacher education. Through the lens of a narrative inquiry, the discourses produced are analysed, taking into account the emerging concepts of ownership and leadership.

The energetics of the gradual phase

Reseachers compare results with those in the chapter by Moore et al. (1980), who reached five main conclusions about the gradual phase: (1) the typical density of the soft X-ray emitting plasma is between 10 to the 11th power and 10 to the 12th power cm-3 for compact flares and between 10 to the 10th power and 10 to the 11th power cm-3 for a large-area flare; (2) cooling is by conduction and radiation in roughly equal proportions; (3) continual heating is needed in the decay phase of two-ribbon flares; (4) continual heating is probably not needed in compact events; (5) most of the soft-X-ray-emitting plasma results from chromospheric evaporation. The goal was to reexamine these problems with the data from the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) and other supporting instruments as well as to take advantage of recent theoretical advances. SMM is capable of measuring coronal temperatures more accurately and with a better cadence than has been possible before. The SMM data set is also unique in that the complete transit of an active region was observed, with soft X-ray and UV images being taken every few minutes. Researcher's were therefore able to establish the pre-flare conditions of the region and see whether anything has changed as a result of the flare. The assumptions made in attempting to determine the required plasma parameters are described. The derived parameters for the five prime flares are presented, and the role of numerical simulations is discussed

Flare energetics

In this investigation of flare energetics, researchers sought to establish a comprehensive and self-consistent picture of the sources and transport of energy within a flare. To achieve this goal, they chose five flares in 1980 that were well observed with instruments on the Solar Maximum Mission, and with other space-borne and ground-based instruments. The events were chosen to represent various types of flares. Details of the observations available for them and the corresponding physical parameters derived from these data are presented. The flares were studied from two perspectives, the impulsive and gradual phases, and then the results were compared to obtain the overall picture of the energics of these flares. The role that modeling can play in estimating the total energy of a flare when the observationally determined parameters are used as the input to a numerical model is discussed. Finally, a critique of the current understanding of flare energetics and the methods used to determine various energetics terms is outlined, and possible future directions of research in this area are suggested

Image Compression for Geological Mapping and Novelty Detection

We describe an image-comparison technique of Heidemann and Ritter [4,5] that uses image compression, and is capable of: (i) detecting novel textures in a series of images, as well as of: (ii) alerting the user to the similarity of a new image to a previously-observed texture. This image-comparison technique has been implemented and tested using our Astrobiology Phone-cam system, which employs Bluetooth communication to send images to a local laptop server in the field for the image-compression analysis. We tested the system in a field site displaying a heterogeneous suite of sandstones, limestones, mudstones and coalbeds. Some of the rocks are partly covered with lichen. The imagematching procedure of this system performed very well with data obtained through our field test, grouping all images of yellow lichens together and grouping all images of a coal bed together, and giving a 91% accuracy for similarity detection. Such similarity detection could be employed to make maps of different geological units. The novelty-detection performance of our system was also rather good (a 64% accuracy). Such novelty detection may become valuable in searching for new geological units, which could be of astrobiological interest. By providing more advanced capabilities for similarity detection and novelty detection, this image-compression technique could be useful in giving more scientific autonomy to robotic planetary rovers, and in assisting human astronauts in their geological exploration

matching of prior textures by image compression for geological mapping and novelty detection

We describe an image-comparison technique of Heidemann and Ritter (2008a, b), which uses image compression, and is capable of: (i) detecting novel textures in a series of images, as well as of: (ii) alerting the user to the similarity of a new image to a previously observed texture. This image-comparison technique has been implemented and tested using our Astrobiology Phone-cam system, which employs Bluetooth communication to send images to a local laptop server in the field for the image-compression analysis. We tested the system in a field site displaying a heterogeneous suite of sandstones, limestones, mudstones and coal beds. Some of the rocks are partly covered with lichen. The image-matching procedure of this system performed very well with data obtained through our field test, grouping all images of yellow lichens together and grouping all images of a coal bed together, and giving 91% accuracy for similarity detection. Such similarity detection could be employed to make maps of different geological units. The novelty-detection performance of our system was also rather good (64% accuracy). Such novelty detection may become valuable in searching for new geological units, which could be of astrobiological interest. The current system is not directly intended for mapping and novelty detection of a second field site based on image- compression analysis of an image database from a first field site, although our current system could be further developed towards this end. Furthermore, the image-comparison technique is an unsupervised technique that is not capable of directly classifying an image as containing a particular geological feature; labelling of such geological features is done post facto by human geologists associated with this study, for the purpose of analysing the system's performance. By providing more advanced capabilities for similarity detection and novelty detection, this image-compression technique could be useful in giving more scientific autonomy to robotic planetary rovers, and in assisting human astronauts in their geological exploration and assessment

The soft x ray telescope for Solar-A

The Solar-A satellite being prepared by the Institute for Sapce and Astronautical Sciences (ISAS) in Japan is dedicated to high energy observations of solar flares. The Soft X Ray Telescope (SXT) is being prepared to provide filtered images in the 2 to 60 A interval. The flight model is now undergoing tests in the 1000 foot tunnel at MSFC. Launch will be in September 1991. Earlier resolution and efficiency tests on the grazing incidence mirror have established its performance in soft x rays. The one-piece, two mirror grazing incidence telescope is supported in a strain free mount separated from the focal plane assembly by a carbon-epoxy metering tube whose windings and filler are chosen to minimize thermal and hygroscopic effects. The CCD detector images both the x ray and the concentric visible light aspect telescope. Optical filters provide images at 4308 and 4700 A. The SXT will be capable of producing over 8000 of the smallest partial frame images per day, or fewer but larger images, up to 1024 x 1024 pixel images. Image sequence with two or more of the five x ray analysis filters, with automatic exposure compensation to optimize the charge collection by the CCD detector, will be used to provide plasma diagnostics. Calculations using a differential emission measure code were used to optimize filter selection over the range of emission measure variations and to avoid redundancy, but the filters were chosen primarily to give ratios that are monotonic in plasma temperature

Comparative Direct Analysis of Type Ia Supernova Spectra. IV. Postmaximum

A comparative study of optical spectra of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) obtained near 1 week, 3 weeks, and 3 months after maximum light is presented. Most members of the four groups that were defined on the basis of maximum light spectra in Paper II (core normal, broad line, cool, and shallow silicon) develop highly homogeneous postmaximum spectra, although there are interesting exceptions. Comparisons with SYNOW synthetic spectra show that most of the spectral features can be accounted for in a plausible way. The fits show that 3 months after maximum light, when SN Ia spectra are often said to be in the nebular phase and to consist of forbidden emission lines, the spectra actually remain dominated by resonance scattering features of permitted lines, primarily those of Fe II. Even in SN 1991bg, which is said to have made a very early transition to the nebular phase, there is no need to appeal to forbidden lines at 3 weeks postmaximum, and at 3 months postmaximum the only clear identification of a forbidden line is [Ca II] 7291, 7324. Recent studies of SN Ia rates indicate that most of the SNe Ia that have ever occurred have been "prompt" SNe Ia, produced by young (100,000,000 yr) stellar populations, while most of the SNe Ia that occur at low redshift today are "tardy", produced by an older (several Gyrs) population. We suggest that the shallow silicon SNe Ia tend to be the prompt ones.Comment: Accepted by PAS

The use of learner-generated drawings in the development of music students’ teacher identities

Identity development is a continuous process framed within changing social contexts, and is particularly problematic for musicians and other artists whose work contradicts the mythologized image of the artist. The purpose of this article is to examine the professional growth of music students in relation to developing teacher identities. The article reports on the use of learner-generated drawings and journal reflections produced by music performance and education majors; in particular, the article probes students’ perceptions of teaching within a traditional career hierarchy that favours performance and artistic creation above all else. Whilst initial student drawings illustrated traditional images of the teacher as knowledge giver, these gave way to student-centred images in which students appeared to identify with teaching in new ways. The combination of textual and non-textual data provided insights that would not otherwise have been evident, and the consideration of ‘possible selves’ became a useful tool in the explorations of identity and career

Q methodology and a Delphi poll: a useful approach to researching a narrative approach to therapy

Q methodology and a Delphi poll combined qualitative and quantitative methods to explore definitions of White and Epston's (1990) narrative approach to therapy among a group of UK practitioners. A Delphi poll was used to generate statements about narrative therapy. The piloting of statements by the Delphi panel identified agreement about theoretical ideas underpinning narrative therapy and certain key practices. A wider group of practitioners ranked the statements in a Q sort and made qualitative comments about their sorting. Quantitative methods (principal components analysis) were used to extract eight accounts of narrative therapy, five of which are qualitatively analysed in this paper. Agreement and differences were identified across a range of issues, including the social construction of narratives, privileging a political stance or narrative techniques and the relationship with other therapies, specifically systemic psychotherapy. Q methodology, combined with the Delphi poll, was a unique and innovative feature of this study