But a walking shadow: designing, performing and learning on the virtual stage

Representing elements of reality within a medium, or taking aspects from one medium and placing them in another is an act of remediation. The process of this act, however, is largely taken for granted. Despite the fact that available information enables a qualitative assessment of the history of multimedia and their influences on different fields of knowledge, there are still some areas that require more focused research attention. For example, the relationship between media evolution and new developments in scenographic practice is currently under investigation. This article explores the issue of immediacy as a condition of modern theatre in the context of digital reality. It discusses the opportunities and challenges that recent technologies present to contemporary practitioners and theatre design educators, creating a lot of scope to break with conventions. Here, we present two case studies that look into technology-mediated learning about scenography through the employment of novel computer visualization techniques. The first case study is concerned with new ways of researching and learning about theatre through creative exploration of design artefacts. The second case study investigates the role of the Immersive Virtual World Second Life™ (SL) in effective teaching of scenography, and in creating and experiencing theatrical performances

Siren songs or path to salvation? Interpreting the visions of web technology at a UK regional newspaper in crisis, 2006-11

A 5-year case study of an established regional newspaper in Britain investigates journalists about their perceptions of convergence in digital technologies. This research is the first ethnographic longitudinal case study of a UK regional newspaper. Although conforming to some trends observed in the wider field of scholarship, the analysis adds to skepticism about any linear or directional views of innovation and adoption: the Northern Echo newspaper journalists were observed to have revised their opinions of optimum Web practices, and sometimes radically reversed policies. Technology is seen in the period as a fluid, amorphous entity. Central corporate authority appeared to diminish in the period as part of a wider reduction in formalism. Questioning functionalist notions of the market, the study suggests cause and effect models of change are often subverted by contradictory perceptions of particular actions. Meanwhile, during technological evolution, the ‘professional imagination’ can be understood as strongly reflecting the parent print culture and its routines, despite pioneering a new convergence partnership with an independent television company

Modelling, Design And Diagnostics For A Photoionised Plasma Experiment

Photoionised plasmas are common in astrophysical environments and new high resolution spectra from such sources have been recorded in recent years by the Chandra and XMM-Newton satellites. These provide a wealth of spectroscopic information and have motivated recent efforts aimed at obtaining a detailed understanding of the atomic-kinetic and radiative characteristics of photoionised plasmas. The Z-pinch facility at the Sandia National Laboratories is the most powerful terrestrial source of X-rays and provides an opportunity to produce photoionised plasmas in a well characterised radiation environment. We present modelling work and experimental design considerations for a forthcoming experiment at Sandia in which X-rays from a collapsing Z-pinch will be used to photoionise low density neon contained in a gas cell. View factor calculations were used to evaluate the radiation environment at the gas cell; the hydrodynamic characteristics of the gas cell were examined using the Helios-CR code, in particular looking at the heating, temperature and ionisation of the neon and the absorption of radiation. Emission and absorption spectra were also computed, giving estimates of spectra likely to be observed experimentally

Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC) Markets: Status and Trends

This paper examines experience in solar renewable energy certificate (SREC) markets in the United States. It describes how SREC markets function--key policy design provisions, eligible technologies, state and regional eligibility rules, solar alternative compliance payments, measurement and verification methods, long-term contracting provisions, and rate caps. It also examines the trends of SREC markets--trading volumes, sourcing trends, trends in the size of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems driven by these markets, and trends in price and compliance. Throughout, the paper explores key issues and challenges facing SREC markets and attempts by policymakers to address some of these market barriers. Data and information presented in this report are derived from SREC tracking systems, brokers and auctions, published reports, and information gleaned from market participants and interviews with state regulators responsible for SREC market implementation. The last section summarizes key findings

Problematic Instagram use: the role of perceived feeling of presence and escapism

The use of social networking sites is becoming increasingly popular. Although there are many studies investigating the problematic use of social networking sites such as Facebook, little is known about problematic Instagram use (PIU) and factors related to it. The present study developed a complex model in order to examine the mediating role of perceived feeling of presence (i.e., social, spatial, and co-presence) and escapism between using different Instagram features and PIU. A total of 333 Instagram users from a high school and a state university, aged between 14 and 23 years (Mage = 17.74 years, SD = 2.37, 61% female), completed a "paper-and-pencil" questionnaire comprising measures of social presence, spatial presence, co-presence, Instagram escapism, and PIU. In addition, frequency of use of five different Instagram features (i.e., watching live streams; watching videos; looking at posted photographs; liking, commenting on others' posts; and getting likes and comments from others) were assessed using a 7-point Likert scale. Analysis indicated that watching live streams was indirectly associated with PIU via escapism, spatial presence, and co-presence. Leaving likes and comments on others' posts was both directly and indirectly associated with PIU via co-presence and escapism. Escapism mediated the relationships between social and spatial presence and co-presence and PIU. The findings of the present study appear to indicate that a minority of individuals use Instagram problematically and that problematic Instagram use is associated with the frequency of watching live streams, liking, and commenting on others’ posts on Instagram, being able to feel a higher sense of presence using Instagram, and using Instagram as an escape from reality

Latewood Ring Width Reveals CE 1734 Felling Dates for Walker House Timbers In Tupelo, Mississippi, USA

Dendroarchaeology is under-represented in the Gulf Coastal Plain region of the United States (US), and at present, only three published studies have precision dated a collection of 18th–19th-century structures. In this study, we examined the tree-ring data from pine, poplar, and oak timbers used in the Walker House in Tupelo, Mississippi. The Walker House was constructed ca. the mid-1800s with timbers that appeared to be recycled from previous structures. In total, we examined 30 samples (16 pines, 8 oaks, and 6 poplars) from the attic and crawlspace. We cross-dated latewood ring growth from the attic pine samples to the period 1541–1734 (r = 0.52, t = 8.43, p \u3c 0.0001) using a 514-year longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) latewood reference chronology from southern Mississippi. The crawlspace oak samples produced a 57-year chronology that we dated against a white oak (Quercus alba L.) reference chronology from northeast Alabama to the period 1765–1822 (r = 0.36, t = 2.83, p \u3c 0.01). We were unable to cross-date the six poplar samples due to a lack of poplar reference chronologies in the region. Our findings have two important implications: (1) the pine material dated to 1734 represents the oldest dendroarchaeology-confirmed dating match for construction materials in the southeastern US, and (2) cross-dating latewood growth for southeastern US pine species produced statistically significant results, whereas total ring width failed to produce significant dating results

A proposal to measure iron opacity at conditions close to the solar convective zone-radiative zone boundary

A major problem in stellar modelling is the discrepancy between solar models and helioseismology data in the position of the convective zone-radiative zone boundary in the sun. This could be explained by a large uncertainty in the calculated opacity data and recent experimental data on iron using the Sandia National Laboratory Z facility have shown large differences, up to a factor of 4, between measurement and prediction at plasma conditions close to the convective zone-radiative zone boundary. This paper describes a proposal for a radiative burn-through experiment to be fielded on NIF to observe if a radiation wave transit through a Fe2O3 sample is consistent with the factor of 2-4 change in the iron opacity seen in the Z experiments. A target design and the diagnostic method are described. A detailed radiation-hydrodynamic model has been used to generate synthetic results and explore the sensitivities and experimental accuracy needed for the proposed measurement

Working Together with Conversational Agents: the Relationship of Perceived Cooperation with Service Performance Evaluations

Conversational agents are gradually being deployed by organizations in service settings to communicate with and solve problems together with consumers. The current study investigates how consumers’ perceptions of cooperation with conversational agents in a service context are associated with their perceptions about agents’ anthropomorphism, social presence, the quality of the information provided by an agent, and the agent service performance. An online experiment was conducted in which participants performed a service-oriented task with the assistance of conversational agents developed specifically for the study and evaluated the performance and attributes of the agents. The results suggest a direct positive link between perceiving a conversational agent as cooperative and perceiving it to be more anthropomorphic, with higher levels of social presence and providing better information quality. Moreover, the results also show that the link between perceiving an agent as cooperative and the agent’s service performance is mediated by perceptions of the agent’s anthropomorphic cues and the quality of the information provided by the agent