“Tjaa,I Do Have Ears,But I Do Not Hear”: New Literacy Studies and the Awakening of a Hearing Teacher

To address the low literacy achievement of minority students, the sociocultural movement of the New Literacy Studies (NLS) encourages us to expand on current understandings of literacy. Instead of thinking of literacy as a neutral set of skills transferable from one setting to another, NLS researchers encourage us to contextualize literacy within individuals’ social and cultural realms. In this view, there are multiple literacies. As a literacy teacher of students who are deaf, I have witnessed students struggling with school-based literacy learning. As I began to examine what I was doing within the classroom, I realized that my assumptions about literacy instruction were the main source of students' struggles. In this study I explore how I used the theoretical perspective of the NLS to expand my understanding of literacy. The findings suggest that, in order to base literacy instruction on students' resources, teachers need to learn to negotiate conflicting educational Discourses on reading and writing, to create a space within the classroom for students to bring in their literacy practices, and to recognize and preserve students' agency and identity in their learning. Findings also indicate the vital role of writing in deaf students' learning of Icelandic.     

School Schedules Affect Sleep Timing in Children and Contribute to Partial Sleep Deprivation

Although the environmental light/dark cycle is the main zeitgeber for the human species, the social cues seem to be important in the synchronization of circadian rhythms. In Brazil, the existence of two school schedules—one with only morning classes (MG) and other with only afternoon classes (AG)—allows the investigation of the effect of school activities on light exposure and sleep/wake patterns in children. Forty‐seven children wore wrist actimeters for a week for registration of light and sleep data. MG children presented shorter sleep duration on school days than the children from the AG. The results showed that during school days MG children were exposed to bright light earlier in the morning when compared to AG children. Nevertheless, there were no differences in light exposure after sunset. The results reflect the role of school schedules and artificial light in shaping light exposure, and its association with sleep timing in children.     

Secure chaotic communication based on extreme multistability

Extreme multistability is the coexistence of a large number of attractors which can be reached by varying initial conditions. In this paper we show how this fascinating phenomenon can be used for secure communication. The main advantage of the communication system based on extreme multistability over a conventional chaos-based communication system is its exceptionally high security. The proposed system consists of two identical six-order oscillators; one in the transmitter and another one in the receiver, each exhibiting the coexistence of a large number of chaotic attractors. The oscillators are synchronized using a private channel through one of the system variables, while the information is transmitted via a public channel through another variable. The information is encrypted by varying the initial condition of one of the state variables in the transmitter using a chaotic map, adhering message packages in a staggered form to the coexisting attractors within the same time series of another state variable, which leads to switching among the coexisting chaotic attractors. To ensure communication security, the duration of the packages is shorter than synchronization time, so that synchronization attacks are ineffective.     

Dissipative output feedback control for semi-Markovian jump systems under hybrid cyber-attacks

In this paper, the dissipativity-based dynamic output feedback controller (DOFC) design for Semi-Markovian jump systems under stochastic cyber-attacks is first proposed. It is assumed that the time-varying uncertainties obey Bernoulli-distribution and transition probability matrix is time-varying and partially accessed. By utilizing the dissipativity-based technique, sufficient conditions for the existence of the DOFC are obtained to ensure the exponential stability with a strict dissipative performance of the resulted system. Next, the proposed results are improved by fractionalizing the time-varying transition probability matrix and the corresponding DOFC gains are obtained by cone complementarity linearization algorithm. Simulations results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and theoretical value of the proposed dissipativity-based DOFC design method.     

Knowledge diversity and team creativity: How hobbyists beat professional designers in creating novel board games

This study adds to the literature on household sector (HHS) innovation by investigating how user and professional designer teams differ in their ability to translate knowledge diversity into collective creative output. We test our hypotheses on a unique data set of more than 5,000 board game design projects conducted by either teams of professional game designers or by hobbyist (user) designers. Our study lends support for the notion that knowledge diversity is a double-edged sword that has opposing effects on the two dimensions of team creativity, novelty and usefulness. We argue and find that teams composed of self-rewarded users in the household sector are better able than teams of professionals to translate the informational benefits of knowledge diversity into novel concepts and game designs. Finally, we find that user teams are in general more likely to create truly creative (i.e. novel and useful) game designs. This particular result emphasizes the relevance of research on HHS innovation and shows that user designers from the HHS are able to conduct collective development work more effectively than teams of professional designers.     

A resourcification manifesto: Understanding the social process of resources becoming resources

In times of major global interconnectedness and environmental change, the pressure to identify, create, and exploit new resources is certain to intensify. Given that there are unavoidable trade-offs, conflicts, and arenas for violence involved when increasingly more material and immaterial things are turned into resources, we call for explicit research on the very process – a process that we label resourcification. The concept of resourcification shifts attention from essentialist queries about the nature of resources to a focus on the social processes through which things are turned into resources. In search of a better understanding of resources in the Anthropocene and, in particular, an understanding about the way resources emerge and are used, resourcification offers a new conceptual framework that allows for a systematic search for knowledge about the diversity of contexts, conditions, modes, and temporalities of resourcification. This Resourcification Manifesto offers a theoretical and empirical framework for a radical and disruptive approach to innovation, sustainability, and management studies and policies.     

Stimulators and barriers towards social innovations in public libraries: Qualitative research study

Public libraries have a huge potential to be creators and facilitators of social innovation in communities and society. Qualitative research based on interviews with 27 librarians showed that social innovation in libraries can take the form of educational and cultural activities, leisure and networking activities and social support services. The main goal of the research was to find out what factors support and make these innovations difficult in public libraries. A four-layer model of barriers and stimulators for social innovation is presented, which includes structural, local, organizational and personnel levels. The model could serve to inform librarians, their stakeholders and governments about all levels of barriers and stimulators connected to innovation of library services and social re-positioning of public libraries in the future.     

Posture,Musculoskeletal Activities,and Possible Musculoskeletal Discomfort Among Children Using Laptops or Tablet Computers for Educational Purposes: A Literature Review

Educational ergonomics focuses on the interaction between educational performance and educational design. By improving the design or pointing out the possible problems, educational ergonomics can be utilized to have positive impacts on the student performance and thus on education process. Laptops and tablet computers are becoming widely used by school children and beginning to be used effectively for educational purposes. As the latest generation of laptops and tablet computers are mobile and lightweight compared to conventional personal computers, they support student-centred interaction-based learning. However, these technologies have been introduced into schools with minimal adaptations to furniture or attention to ergonomics. There are increasing reports of an association between increased musculoskeletal (MSK) problems in children and use of such technologies. Although children are among the users of laptops and tablet computers both in their everyday lives and at schools, the literature investigating MSK activities and possible MSK discomfort regarding children using portable technologies is limited. This study reviews the literature to identify published studies that investigated posture, MSK activities, and possible MSK discomfort among children using mobile technologies (laptops or tablet computers) for educational purposes. An electronic search of the literature published in English between January 1994 and January 2014 was performed in several databases. The literature search terms were identified and combined to search the databases. The search results that the resources investigating MSK outcomes of laptop or tablet use of children are very scarce. This review points out the research gaps in this field, and identifying areas for future studies.     

Listening to Students: Examining Underlying Mechanisms That Contribute to the AVID Program's Effectiveness

This study used a mixed-methods approach to examine the effects of the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program from the student perspective, specifically focusing on factors associated with student resilience. The AVID program aims to close the achievement gap among predominantly minority and low-income students without a family history of college attendance. Qualitative focus groups were conducted to better understand student perceptions of the program and quantitative survey results were used to compare scores on measures of school support, school engagement, and resilience among AVID and non-AVID students. Both qualitative and quantitative results provided evidence suggesting that the AVID program improved school support and engagement, as well as in the development of individual resilience factors, such as self-awareness, problem-solving ability, and self-esteem. Qualitative results also highlight the importance of providing consistency for students in the learning environment. Future directions and recommendations are provided.