1,030 research outputs found
Ep. #012 - Natasha Myers
No full textThis recording and transcript form part of a collection of podcasts conducted by the Cultures of Energy at Rice University. Cultures of Energy brings writers, artists and scholars together to talk, think and feel their way into the Anthropocene. We cover serious issues like climate change, species extinction and energy transition. But we also try to confront seemingly huge and insurmountable problems with insight, creativity and laughter.It’s all about plants on this week’s Cultures of Energy podcast. Our guide is anthropologist Natasha Myers, director of the Plant Studies Collaboratory at York University (https://natashamyers.wordpress.com) and author of Rendering Life Molecular: Models, Modelers, and Excitable Matter (Duke University Press, 2015). We talk about Natasha’s work in savannah ecosystems millennia in the making, how to sniff out chemical atmospheres and queer environmental monitoring practices. Natasha explains how plants conduct inquiry in their worlds, their sense and sentience, how they both catalyze and epitomize ecological relations. We discuss how plants trouble human notions of subjectivity, the possibility a plant-based phenomenology, end-of-time botanical tourism in Singapore, and whether gardening can be a redemptive practice. Natasha envisions plants as photosynthetic world-makers and tells us that if we humans want to thrive, our plants needs to thrive too. It’s time to embrace the Planthropocene
Dynamic assessment of the effectiveness of digital game-based literacy training in beginning readers:a cluster randomised controlled trial
Full text linkIn this article, we report on a study evaluating the effectiveness of a digital game-based learning (DGBL) tool for beginning readers of Dutch, employing active (math game) and passive (no game) control conditions. This classroom-level randomized controlled trial included 247 first graders from 16 classrooms in the Netherlands and the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. The intervention consisted of 10 to 15 min of daily playing during school time for a period of up to 7 weeks. Our outcome measures included reading fluency, phonological skills, as well as purpose built in-game proficiency levels to measure written lexical decision and letter speech sound association. After an average of 28 playing sessions, the literacy game improved letter knowledge at a scale generalizable for all children in the classroom compared to the two control conditions. In addition to a small classroom wide benefit in terms of reading fluency, we furthermore discovered that children who scored high on phonological awareness prior to training were more fluent readers after extensive exposure to the reading game. This study is among the first to exploit game generated data for the evaluation of DGBL for literacy interventions
Atmospheric mineral dust emission and climatological variables for Etosha Pan, Namibia (2000-2022)
No full textCSV data files containing records of mineral dust plume events (dust point source locations lat/long, start and end time, duration, plume movement direction, and sensor used for detection), extrapolated monthly, seasonal and annual dust plume event and dust days (i.e. count of days in which a dust plume was observed) and dust optical depth (DOD) data, and associated records of meteorological and hydrological variables for dust plume events (i.e. 10 m wind speed, lake area extents, catchment precipitation totals and specific source point surface wetting frequencies by precipitation and ephemeral flooding, and El Niño Southern Oscillation [ENSO 3.4] and South Indian Ocean Dipole [SIOD] index values) for Etosha Pan, Namibia for the analysis period from July 1999 to January 2023.
All datasets are readable using CSV file viewer software.
Dust plume event data were analysed manually by the author Natasha S. Wallum. Data used for detection were sourced from Terra and Aqua satellites MODIS level 1b and Aerosol data acquired from the Atmospheric Archive and Distribution System (LAADS) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC), located in the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland (https://ladsweb.nascom.nasa.gov/) and SEVIRI data procured from the EUMETSAT Data Store (https://data.eumetsat.int/search?query=). Analysis of SEVIRI imagery utilised the Clear Sky Differencing (CSD) algorithm developed by Jon Murray and colleagues (https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016JD025221).
Lake area extent data were derived by density thresholding of near-infrared (NIR) reflectance data from the MODIS Terra satellite obtained from NASA’s LAADS DAAC data portal (https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/) and verified using Level-2 (8-day) images collected from Landsat 5 TM (1984–2012) and Landsat 8 OLI (2013 – present day) sensors were acquired through the USGS Earth Explorer data portal (www.earthexplorer.com).
The contributing catchment (Cuvelai-Etosha Basin) was derived from the HydroBASINS (Lehner and Grill, 2013) catchment database (https://hydrosheds.org/products/hydrobasins), and this area was used to derive daily precipitation inputs for 2000–2022 (July – June hydrological year) from The Integrated Multi-Satellite Retrievals for GPM (GPM-IMERG) and The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) gridded time-series of precipitation available from the Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center (http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/).
These data were augmented by limited monthly precipitation records (2000–2022) from 10 local weather stations (Mahenene, Ondjiva, Namacunde, Oshaambelo, Ogongo, Ondangwa, Okashana, Okapya, Okaukuejo, and Mannheim) provided by the Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL; https://sasscal.org/) and continuous rain gauge measurements recorded at Windpoort located in close proximity to Etosha Pan within the Cuvelai-Etosha Basin.
Near-surface (10 m) wind speeds (m/s) and cubed wind speed anomaly data were derived from ERA5-Land reanalysis model data product available from the Copernicus Climate Change Service Data Store (https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/).
Surface wetting frequencies and time since wetting for dust event source points were calculated by the author Natasha S. Wallum using ArcGIS Pro (education licence on behalf of the University of Oxford).
Global climate indices of SST anomalies data (ENSO 3.4 and SIOD) were obtained from the Climate Diagnostics Centre (CDC) online archives (http://psl.noaa.gov/data/climateindices) and the Indian Ocean dipole (IOD) site maintained by the Frontier Research System for Global Change (FRSGC)/Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) Climate Variations Research Program (http://www.jamstec.go.jp)
Age-related differences in brain activation during the acquisition and retention of a visuomotor skill.
No full textFlexible adaptive paradigms for fMRI using a novel software package 'Brain Analysis in Real-Time' (BART).
Full text linkIn this work we present a new open source software package offering a unified framework for the real-time adaptation of fMRI stimulation procedures. The software provides a straightforward setup and highly flexible approach to adapt fMRI paradigms while the experiment is running. The general framework comprises the inclusion of parameters from subject's compliance, such as directing gaze to visually presented stimuli and physiological fluctuations, like blood pressure or pulse. Additionally, this approach yields possibilities to investigate complex scientific questions, for example the influence of EEG rhythms or fMRI signals results themselves. To prove the concept of this approach, we used our software in a usability example for an fMRI experiment where the presentation of emotional pictures was dependent on the subject's gaze position. This can have a significant impact on the results. So far, if this is taken into account during fMRI data analysis, it is commonly done by the post-hoc removal of erroneous trials. Here, we propose an a priori adaptation of the paradigm during the experiment's runtime. Our fMRI findings clearly show the benefits of an adapted paradigm in terms of statistical power and higher effect sizes in emotion-related brain regions. This can be of special interest for all experiments with low statistical power due to a limited number of subjects, a limited amount of time, costs or available data to analyze, as is the case with real-time fMRI
P3 and SSVEP BCI in Locked-In Syndrome
Full text linkpeer reviewedObjectives: We study the applicability of a visual P3-based and a Steady State Visually Evoked Potentials (SSVEP)-based Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) for mental text spelling on a cohort of patients with incomplete Locked-In Syndrome (LIS).
Methods: Seven patients performed repeated sessions with each BCI. We assessed BCI performance, mental workload and overall satisfaction for both systems. We also investigated the effect of the quality of life and level of motor impairment on the performance.
Results: All seven patients were able to achieve an accuracy of 70% or more with the SSVEP-based BCI, compared to 3 patients with the P3-based BCI, showing a better performance with the SSVEP BCI than with the P3 BCI in the studied cohort. Moreover, the better performance of the SSVEP-based BCI was accompanied by a lower mental workload and a higher overall satisfaction. No relationship was found between BCI performance and level of motor impairment or quality of life.
Conclusion:Our results show a better usability of the SSVEP-based BCI than the P3-based one for the sessions performed by the tested population of locked-in patients with respect to all the criteria considered. The study shows the advantage of developing alternative BCIs with respect to the traditional matrix-based P3 speller using different designs and signal modalities such as SSVEPs to build a faster, more accurate, less mentally demanding and more satisfying BCI by testing both types of BCIs on a convenience sample of LIS patients
Theories of Time and Space
No full textPoet Natasha Trethewey presents her "Theories of Time and Space," April 9, 2005, around Gulfport, Mississippi. Trethewey is the author of Domestic Work (2000) and Bellocq's Ophelia (2002). Her upcoming Native Guard will be published in 2006.
Trethewey's poem "Elegy for the Native Guards" is also available on Southern Spaces
Elegy for the Native Guards
No full textPoet Natasha Trethewey presents her "Elegy for the Native Guards," April 9, 2005, on Ship Island, Mississippi. Trethewey is the author of Domestic Work (2000) and Bellocq's Ophelia (2002). Her upcoming Native Guard will be published in 2006.
Trethewey's poem "Theories of Time and Space" is also available on Southern Spaces
Multichannel EEG : towards applications in clinical neurology.
Full text linkElectroencephalogram (EEG) measures the electric activity produced by the brain with electrodes placed on the scalp. It is used for monitoring or as diagnostic tool for neurological disorders. In practice a maximum of 21 electrodes are generally used for a clinical EEG recording. However, EEG systems with 128 and 256 electrodes are also available and used for fundamental research. In this thesis we investigate whether the extra information obtained with 128-channel recordings is clinically relevant. We have focused on evoked potentials (EPs). EP is the electric activity of the brain caused by a stimulus (e.g. a flashlight).
We showed that a measure often used for evoked potentials, the peak amplitude, can be estimated more accurately by using 128 channels recordings than by conventional recordings. Therefore this technique might be more sensitive to pathological changes.
In addition, we developed a new technique to estimate EP symmetry (similarity of EPs generated in left and right hemisphere). This technique might be useful for diagnosis of neurological disorders with brain damage in one hemisphere.
Both methods have been applied to a group of patients with parkinsonism; neurological symptoms typical for Parkinson’s disease. No differences could be observed in amplitude or symmetry between patients with different parkinsonian disorders. Therefore, (so far) these methods cannot be used as diagnostic tool for neurological disorders.
Future research will show whether small adaptations to the stimulation method or analysis technique will result in an improvement of the diagnostic value and whether these methods are useful for other neurological disorders.
Poverty deconcentration, housing mobility, and the construction of recent US housing policy: a discourse analysis of the policy-making process
No full textThis study seeks to answer how and why poverty deconcentration and housing mobility have dominated recent housing policy discourse and produced the Moving to Opportunity demonstration program as HUD’s primary housing initiative in the 1990-2000 period. Through the examination of the policy discourse imbuing MTO I attempt to elucidate power relations and the role of elites in cultivating the housing mobility discourse. In addition, I demonstrate the hegemonic processes through which the dominant discourse proliferates. Employing a postpositivist approach to policy analysis, I examine the process of policy deliberation to expose the deliberative and discursive mechanisms through which MTO was engendered. Towards this end, the study explores the process, nature, and dynamics of policy deliberations at HUD to understand how federal policies are formed particularly with regard to embedded power dynamics and democratic processes. By illustrating the discursive practices that produced MTO, I uncover the politics, assumptions and frames through which HUD views poverty concentration, housing mobility, and voucher recipients. By depicting the evolutionary (genealogical) stages of MTO through a frame-critical discourse analysis, this study delimits the empirical findings produced through the demonstration. To that end I employ Fischer’s logic of policy evaluation and elucidate four interrelated discourses, which “extend from concrete empirical questions pertinent to a particular situation up to the abstract normative issues concerning a way of life” (1995:18). Accordingly, I produce an overall analysis of MTO, and offer suggestions on how the demonstration could have been structured or delineated differently, and what alternative assumptions or frames might have led to different analytical results.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Natasha Ona Turs
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