Sport and Incarceration: Theoretical Considerations for Sport for Development Research

Despite a rapid expansion in research on Sport for Development (SfD), there remain numerous untapped veins of exploration. This article makes a novel argument for increasing the theoretical and substantive depth of SfD research by linking it to the relatively small, yet developing, body of literature on sport and incarceration. Drawing from the emergent field of carceral geography and the literature on prison sport, this article provides critical theoretical considerations for SfD programs that occur in ‘compact’ sites of confinement, such as prisons or refugee camps, or are enmeshed in ‘diffuse’ manifestations of carcerality. Given the structures of inequality that have led to the confinement of more than 13 million people in prisons, refugee camps, and migrant detention centres across the globe, as well as the multitude of ways that groups and individuals are criminalized and stigmatized in community settings, there are compelling reasons for SfD research to more deeply engage with concerns of space and carcerality as they relate to sport. As such, this article provides an important foundation for future analyses of SfD and carcerality, and signposts some potential ways forward for a deepening of theoretical perspectives in SfD research

An investigation into motor pools and their applicability to a biologically inspired model of ballistic voluntary motor action

This study investigates the properties of motor pools in the human motor control system. The simulations carried out as part of this study used two biologically inspired neuronal models to simulate networks with properties similar to those observed in the human motor system (Burke, 1991). The Synchronous neuronal model developed as part of this study explicitly models the input/output spike train and frequency relationship of each neuron. The motor pool simulations were carried out using the INSIGHT TOO simulation software developed as part of this study. INSIGHT TOO is a flexible neural design tool that allows the visual interactive design of network connectivity and has the power of a node specification language similar to that of BASIC that allows multi-layer, multi-model networks to be simulated. The simulations have shown that the motor pools are capable of reproducing commonly observed physiological properties during normal voluntary reaching movements. As a result of these findings a theoretical model of ballistic voluntary motor action was proposed called the Recruitment Model. The Recruitment model utilises the "recruitment" principle known to exist in motor pools and applies this distributed processing methodology to the higher levels of motor action to explain how complex structures similar to the human skeletal system might be controlled. A simple version of the Recruitment Model is simulated showing an animation of a running "stick man". This simulation demonstrates some of the principles necessary to solve problems relating to synergy formation

Female impersonation as an alternative reproductive strategy in giant cuttlefish

Out of all the animals, cephalopods possess an unrivalled ability to change their shape and body patterns. Our observations of giant cuttlefish (Sepia apama) suggest this ability has allowed them to evolve alternative mating strategies in which males can switch between the appearance of a female and that of a male in order to foil the guarding attempts of larger males. At a mass breeding aggregation in South Australia, we repeatedly observed single small males accompanying mating pairs. While doing so, the small male assumed the body shape and patterns of a female. Such males were never attacked by the larger mate-guarding male. On more than 20 occasions, when the larger male was distracted by another male intruder, these small males, previously indistinguishable from a female, were observed to change body pattern and behaviour to that of a male in mating display. These small males then attempted to mate with the female, often with success. This potential for dynamic sexual mimicry may have played a part in driving the evolution of the remarkable powers of colour and shape transformation which characterize the cephalopods

Star Formation with Adaptive Mesh Refinement Radiation Hydrodynamics

I provide a pedagogic review of adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) radiation hydrodynamics (RHD) methods and codes used in simulations of star formation, at a level suitable for researchers who are not computational experts. I begin with a brief overview of the types of RHD processes that are most important to star formation, and then I formally introduce the equations of RHD and the approximations one uses to render them computationally tractable. I discuss strategies for solving these approximate equations on adaptive grids, with particular emphasis on identifying the main advantages and disadvantages of various approximations and numerical approaches. Finally, I conclude by discussing areas ripe for improvement.Comment: 8 pages, to appear in the Proceedings of IAU Symposium 270: Computational Star Formatio

Supporting the Everyday Work of Scientists: Automating Scientific Workflows

This paper describes an action research project that we undertook with National Research Council Canada (NRC) scientists. Based on discussions about their \ud difficulties in using software to collect data and manage processes, we identified three requirements for increasing research productivity: ease of use for end- \ud users; managing scientific workflows; and facilitating software interoperability. Based on these requirements, we developed a software framework, Sweet, to \ud assist in the automation of scientific workflows. \ud \ud Throughout the iterative development process, and through a series of structured interviews, we evaluated how the framework was used in practice, and identified \ud increases in productivity and effectiveness and their causes. While the framework provides resources for writing application wrappers, it was easier to code the applications’ functionality directly into the framework using OSS components. Ease of use for the end-user and flexible and fully parameterized workflow representations were key elements of the framework’s success. \u