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Everyday engagement with mobile phones in an urban slum in Delhi
Get PDFThis ethnographic case study presents findings of an 18-month research study focusing on the ways in which families residing in an urban slum were using mobile phones and how this use supported literacy practices. Data collection included participant observations and interviews with 42 participants including parents, children and community members. Results of the data analysis indicated that in this urban slum, most participants owned a mobile phone which provided multiple entry points to learning. The phones ushered in new ways of brokering knowledge where children acted as ‘experts’ and enabled parents to perform everyday tasks while parents mediated as cultural brokers and fostered religious and cultural practices and knowledge of the mother tongue. The implications of the study point to the evolving nature of literacy practices, the versatility of the device, the uneven landscape of smartphone use and the limitations posed by the schooling contexts
Mapping media and information literacy skills during and after COVID-19, with special reference to online education, and commerce and trade
Get PDFThis paper examines literature from the COVID-19 period (2020-2022) to outline prevalent themes and essential competencies in the post-COVID era. Employing informetrics within a quantitative research approach, the study scrutinizes Scopus database data using COVID-19, e-learning, e-commerce, and media and information literacy terms. Results reveal a surge in scholarly focus on e-commerce, online learning, e-health, and ICTs, including social media. Identified were 355 media and information literacy terms, with digital, information, health, and media literacy at the forefront. Moreover, 244 corresponding competencies and skills were noted. The study emphasizes the necessity for comprehensive media and information literacy programs, diverse competencies, and stakeholder engagement in fostering a digitally literate society. Prioritizing skill development for navigating digital landscapes is vital amid the fourth industrial revolution, laying the groundwork for adept usage of media, information, and digital realms
Whither India’s Development: Toward Being a Super Power or a Super Civilization?
Get PDFThis commentary was triggered by my reading a lecture delivered by Saurabh Kumar, a former student of mine at Indian Institute of Management, who later served as India’s ambassador in various countries and international bodies. He bemoaned that China had much greater status in global affairs than India. Many others in India hanker for a super power status for India. I find this concern to be somewhat misguided. India should be aiming to be a great civilization, rather than a domineering superpower. The record of all the superpowers till now has been quite spotty in humane terms. My vision for India is to rise through a winding and fragrant path to a peak of humane excellence through synergistic creativity, compassion, and competence
The Faroe-Shetland Channel Jet: Structure, Variability, and Driving Mechanisms
Get PDFThe Faroe-Bank Channel (FBC) is a key gateway through which dense overflow water of the Nordic Seas supplies the lower limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Most recently, it was discovered that a deep jet through the Faroe-Shetland Channel carries the bulk of this overflow water, but numerous questions regarding its structure, seasonality, and interannual variability as well as its linkage to atmospheric forcing remain poorly understood. A realistic high-resolution ocean reanalysis (GLORYS12; 1993–2018) is, therefore, employed to address these questions. We first confirm that the Faroe-Shetland Channel Jet is a permanent feature in GLORYS12 as well as in an ensemble of low-resolution reanalyses. On seasonal time scales, we find a strong transport covariability between this deep jet and the observed FBC overflow. On interannual time scales, the strength of this deep jet is governed by the wind-forced circulation in the Nordic Seas. Due to the largely barotropic structure of these flows, they have a signature detectable in satellite sea-surface heights. Further, we suggest that the structure of the deep jet is qualitatively consistent with a geostrophic dynamical model that accounts for along-isobath density variations. This study indicates that GLORYS12 is a promising product to study the dense water pathways and dynamics in the Nordic Seas
Go in the Wilderness: Black Spirituals and the Natural Environment
No full textThis talk examined the complex role of nature in Black spirituals. While the spirituals often despair of finding joy in the world we occupy, vivid natural imagery plays a key role in their depictions of worldly events – and even the afterlife. Its role, however, is often unclear: rivers are the boundaries between worlds; waters heal, and devour; the faithful seek salvation in the wilderness, and never return. The faithful pray for God to extinguish the sun, and weep as the stars begin to fall. This presentation began to untangle these contradictory portrayals, clarifying the relationship between Black spirituals and the environments they developed within.
A specialist in the early folk music of Black Americans, Blount is a skilled performer of spirituals, blues, and string band repertoire. Blount has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Newport Folk Festival, and numerous other venues across and beyond the United States. Blount’s latest record, The New Faith, was released in September 2022 as part of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings’ African American Legacy Series, in collaboration with the National Museum of African American History and Culture. An Afrofuturist concept album, The New Faith explores traditional Black religious music as it might exist post-climate crisis. In this solo concert at URI, Blount performed material from this critically acclaimed album and beyond.
Check out Blount’s January 6th, 2023 “Tiny Desk Concert” from NPR Music
Unified depth-limited wave breaking detection and dissipation in fully nonlinear potential flow models
No full textA new method is proposed for simulating the energy dissipation resulting from depth-limited wave breaking, in combination with a universal breaking onset criterion, in two-dimensional (2D) fully nonlinear potential flow (FNPF) models, based on a non-dimensional breaking strength parameter. Two different 2D-FNPF models are used, which solve the Laplace equation based on Chebyshev polynomial expansions or a boundary element method. In these models, impending breaking waves are detected in real time using a universal breaking onset criterion proposed in earlier work, based on the ratio of the horizontal particle velocity at the crest u, relative to the crest velocity c, B=u/c\u3e0.85. For these waves, wave energy is dissipated locally with an absorbing surface pressure that is calibrated using an inverted hydraulic jump analogy. This approach is first validated for periodic spilling breakers over plane beaches and bars, for which results are shown to be in good agreement with experimental data. Recasting this breaking dissipation model in terms of a non-dimensional breaking strength, the hydraulic jump analog is shown to provide results similar to those of a constant breaking strength model, and to yield good agreement for periodic plunging breakers as well. The same approach is then applied to irregular waves shoaling over a submerged bar, and is shown to agree well with experimental data for the wave height, asymmetry, skewness, and kurtosis. Future work will extend this 2D breaker model to cases of three-dimensional (3D) breaking waves, simulated in existing 3D-FNPF models, in shallow or deep water conditions
Extensive estuarine sedimentary storage of plastics from city to sea: Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, USA
Get PDFPlastics are an important new component of the global sedimentary system, and much concern exists about their transport, fate and impact. This study presents the first system-scale assessment of sedimentary storage of microplastic for an estuary, Narragansett Bay, RI (USA), and the measurements of shoreline and seabed sediments add to the growing body of literature demonstrating high coastal concentrations. Microplastic concentrations in sediments ranged from 396 to over 13,000 MP particles kg−1 dry sediment (DW), comparable to other shoreline and seafloor sites located near urban centers. As previously reported for fine sediment and other pollutants, estuarine plastic storage is extensive in Narragansett Bay, especially within the upper urbanized reaches. Over 16 trillion pieces of plastic weighing near 1000 tonnes is calculated to be stored in surface sediments of the Bay based on a power-law fit. This work highlights that estuaries may serve as a significant filter for plastic pollution, and this trapping may have negative consequences for these valuable, productive ecosystems but offer potential for efficient removal
