Fearless: Christine Serwan and Sam Holmes

This week, we’re recognising the fearless work that Christine Serwan ’13 and Sam Holmes ’13 will be doing over the next two years during with the Peace Corps. [excerpt

The Incorporation of Scientific Discourse in Yamamura Bochō's "Prismist" Poetry (1914-1916)

Yamamura Bochō (1884-1924) is mainly remembered as the author of "Seisanryōhari" (The Sacred Prism, 1915), a collection of "shi" (modern poetry in non-traditional forms) that represents the culmination of his experiments in diction and imagery. One of the most striking elements of his ‘prismist’ poetry is the presence of scientific language, coming from the domains of geology, botany, biology, and medicine. In this paper, I adopt a historical and textual perspective to attempt an analysis of the incorporation of scientific discourse in Bochō’s poetry. Particular emphasis is placed on the European and Japanese debate on the ‘new science’ and on the similarities to the treatment of this topic by Bochō and the discourses of the historical European avant-garde (especially Italian Futurism)

Strategies to Incorporate Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion Into Clinical Practice

AbstractThe left atrial appendage (LAA) has been identified as a predominant source of thrombus formation leading to significant thromboembolic events in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. Medical therapy to eliminate thrombus formation in the LAA has been the standard of care for several decades, but mechanical approaches designed to exclude the LAA from the circulation have recently been developed. The largest body of randomized and nonrandomized data to date has been for the Watchman device (Boston Scientific, Natick, Massachusetts), which was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for selected patients in the United States. There are no current guidelines or guidance for institutions and operators looking to become involved in this therapy. This perspective is aimed at exploring these issues and providing necessary information and guidance to these programs and operators to help ensure a successful launch of a LAA occlusion program and optimize patient selection, procedural performance, and outcome

Harbouring Aliens: Ports as Habitats for Non-native Species

Non-native species are widely regarded as a significant environmental threat and have been associated with biodiversity loss, species extinctions and the altering of ecosystem services. Shipping is the largest transport vector for aquatic species worldwide and ports, being central to this industry, are considered potential ‘hotspots’ for non-native species introductions. Ports are often heavily industrialised areas which can hinder access and the use of standard survey methods. As such, our knowledge of non-native species within UK ports is poor. As the foundation for this research I developed two different settlement surveys designed specifically to overcome some of the obstacles associated with working within active port environments. Surveys were deployed across five ports in South Wales, UK. I detected 13 non-native species and described the wider fouling communities present within each studied port. Whole community structure and their succession varied highly between ports, with salinity being the primary driver of differences between port communities. Significant differences in the observed non-native species between ports, independent of geographic proximity, highlighted the need to monitor individual ports with a view to implementing bespoke, effective management strategies. Colonisation of different material substrates was quantified and revealed that whilst the community structure varied between material types, non-native species would readily colonise all studied materials. These findings have particular importance for the management of non-native species within ports and have been used to inform port biosecurity procedures within the studied region. The successful deployment of the tailored survey methods within active ports will encourage regular monitoring for non-native species within UK ports. This research also showed that collaborations between researchers and port authorities can be highly effective for both parties and may indeed be necessary if we are to successfully manage aquatic non-native species within the UK

Population structure and connectivity of tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) across the Indo-Pacific Ocean basin

Population genetic structure using nine polymorphic nuclear microsatellite loci was assessed for the tiger shark () at seven locations across the Indo-Pacific, and one location in the southern Atlantic. Genetic analyses revealed considerable genetic structuring ( > 0.14,

Examining the Effect of Group Assignment on Upper Elementary Students\u27 Experiences in a Technology-Mediated Collaborative Compositional Activity

Collaboration in elementary music instruction has been incorporated frequently in creative activities. With the increase of technology integration, researchers have investigated its use as a mediation tool in creative activities. The nature of how children are grouped remains in contention. There is a need for comparing students’ perceptions in group work based on their group selection. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the effect of group assignment on upper elementary students’ experiences in a technology-mediated collaborative compositional activity. Research questions included: (a) How do upper elementary students perceive collaboration in a group-based, technology-mediated music composition activity? (b) Is there a significant difference in students’ perceptions of collaboration based on their group assignment, as measured by the Collaborative Composition Through Technology Assessment (CCTTA)? (c) Based on group assignment, are there differences in the nature of students’ interactions in collaboration? and (d) How does group assignment influence the quality of students’ compositional products? Data consisted of a researcher-adapted questionnaire consisting of Likert type items and open-ended questions pertaining to perceptions of working collaboratively, video observations, interviews, and a final product score. Fourth grade students (N = 40) from two, intact classes were formed into student-selected (SSG) and researcher-selected (RSG) groups. Groups participated in a 60-minute, open-ended compositional activity using GarageBand as the mediation tool. While participants viewed collaboration and technology positively, quantitative results yielded no significant differences between groups in students’ perceptions. Similarly, there was no significant difference between groups in the quality of compositional products. Participants in SSG preferred working collaboratively over their RSG counterparts, which was a statistically significant finding. Qualitative findings revealed that both group sets employed a democratic approach to decision making. Both group sets reported having disagreements between members. Findings indicated that the SSG overcame differences through a shared understanding of their existing knowledge while the RSG reported frustrations in unequal role assignments, hindering the integration of individual ideas. The importance of exploratory processes in the activity indicated that the SSG employed purposeful planning of the final product, while the RSG used more random exploration

Assessment of Current Estimates of Global and Regional Mean Sea Level from the TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, and OSTM 17-Year Record

The science value of satellite altimeter observations has grown dramatically over time as enabling models and technologies have increased the value of data acquired on both past and present missions. With the prospect of an observational time series extending into several decades from TOPEX/Poseidon through Jason-1 and the Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM), and further in time with a future set of operational altimeters, researchers are pushing the bounds of current technology and modeling capability in order to monitor global sea level rate at an accuracy of a few tenths of a mm/yr. The measurement of mean sea-level change from satellite altimetry requires an extreme stability of the altimeter measurement system since the signal being measured is at the level of a few mm/yr. This means that the orbit and reference frame within which the altimeter measurements are situated, and the associated altimeter corrections, must be stable and accurate enough to permit a robust MSL estimate. Foremost, orbit quality and consistency are critical to satellite altimeter measurement accuracy. The orbit defines the altimeter reference frame, and orbit error directly affects the altimeter measurement. Orbit error remains a major component in the error budget of all past and present altimeter missions. For example, inconsistencies in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) used to produce the precision orbits at different times cause systematic inconsistencies to appear in the multimission time-frame between TOPEX and Jason-1, and can affect the intermission calibration of these data. In an effort to adhere to cross mission consistency, we have generated the full time series of orbits for TOPEX/Poseidon (TP), Jason-1, and OSTM based on recent improvements in the satellite force models, reference systems, and modeling strategies. The recent release of the entire revised Jason-1 Geophysical Data Records, and recalibration of the microwave radiometer correction also require the further re-examination of inter-mission consistency issues. Here we present an assessment of these recent improvements to the accuracy of the 17 -year sea surface height time series, and evaluate the subsequent impact on global and regional mean sea level estimates

Engaging with History after Macpherson

The Race Relations Amendment Act (2000) identifies a key role for education, and more specifically history, in promoting ‘race equality’ in Britain. In this article Ian Grosvenor and Kevin Myers consider the extent of young people’s current engagement with the history of ‘diversity, change and immigration’ which underpins the commitment to ‘race equality’. Finding that in many of Britain’s schools and universities a singular and exclusionary version of history continues to dominate the curriculum, they go on to consider the reasons for the neglect of multiculturalism. The authors identify the development of an aggressive national identity that depends on the past for its legitimacy and argue that this sense of the past is an important obstacle to future progress

Bayesian population receptive field modelling

We introduce a probabilistic (Bayesian) framework and associated software toolbox for mapping population receptive fields (pRFs) based on fMRI data. This generic approach is intended to work with stimuli of any dimension and is demonstrated and validated in the context of 2D retinotopic mapping. The framework enables the experimenter to specify generative (encoding) models of fMRI timeseries, in which experimental manipulations enter a pRF model of neural activity, which in turns drives a nonlinear model of neurovascular coupling and Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) response. The neuronal and haemodynamic parameters are estimated together on a voxel-by-voxel or region-of-interest basis using a Bayesian estimation algorithm (variational Laplace). This offers several novel contributions to receptive field modelling. The variance / covariance of parameters are estimated, enabling receptive fields to be plotted while properly representing uncertainty about pRF size and location. Variability in the haemodynamic response across the brain is accounted for. Furthermore, the framework introduces formal hypothesis testing to pRF analysis, enabling competing models to be evaluated based on their model evidence (approximated by the variational free energy), which represents the optimal tradeoff between accuracy and complexity. Using simulations and empirical data, we found that parameters typically used to represent pRF size and neuronal scaling are strongly correlated, which should be taken into account when making inferences. We used the framework to compare the evidence for six variants of pRF model using 7T functional MRI data and we found a circular Difference of Gaussians (DoG) model to be the best explanation for our data overall. We hope this framework will prove useful for mapping stimulus spaces with any number of dimensions onto the anatomy of the brain.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures. Code available at https://github.com/pzeidman/BayespR