A comparative corpus-assisted discourse study of the representations of hosts in promotional tourism discourse

Most studies concerned with the representations of local people in tourism discourse point to the prevalence of stereotypic images asserting that contemporary tourism perpetuates colonial legacy and gendered discursive practices. This claim has been, to some extent, contested in research that explores representations of hosts in local tourism materials claiming that tourism can also discursively resist the dominant Western imagery. While the evidence for the existence of hegemonic and diverging discourses about the local ‘Other’ seems compelling, the empirical basis of this research is rather small and often limited to one geographic context. The present study addresses these shortcomings by examining representations of hosts in a larger corpus of promotional tourism materials including texts produced by Western and local tourism industries. The data is investigated using the methodology of Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS). By comparing external with internal (self) representations, this study verifies and refines some of the claims on the subject and offers a much more nuanced picture of representations that defies the black and white scenarios proposed in previous research

A critical evaluation of the ability of the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) thermal infrared red-green-blue rendering to identify dust events: theoretical analysis

Using a combination of idealized radiative transfer simulations and a case study from the first field campaign of the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) in southern Morocco, this paper provides a systematic assessment of the limitations of the widely used Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) red-green-blue (RGB) thermal infrared dust product. Both analyses indicate that the ability of the product to identify dust, via its characteristic pink coloring, is strongly dependent on the column water vapor, the lower tropospheric lapse rate, and dust altitude. In particular, when column water vapor exceeds ∼20–25 mm, dust presence, even for visible optical depths of the order 0.8, is effectively masked. Variability in dust optical properties also has a marked impact on the imagery, primarily as a result of variability in dust composition. There is a moderate sensitivity to the satellite viewing geometry, particularly in moist conditions. The underlying surface can act to confound the signal seen through variations in spectral emissivity, which are predominantly manifested in the 8.7μm SEVIRI channel. In addition, if a temperature inversion is present, typical of early morning conditions over the Sahara and Sahel, an increased dust loading can actually reduce the pink coloring of the RGB image compared to pristine conditions. Attempts to match specific SEVIRI observations to simulations using SAMUM measurements are challenging because of high uncertainties in surface skin temperature and emissivity. Recommendations concerning the use and interpretation of the SEVIRI RGB imagery are provided on the basis of these findings.

Neurocognitive control in dance perception and performance

Dance is a rich source of material for researchers interested in the integration of movement and cognition. The multiple aspects of embodied cognition involved in performing and perceiving dance have inspired scientists to use dance as a means for studying motor control, expertise, and action-perception links. The aim of this review is to present basic research on cognitive and neural processes implicated in the execution, expression, and observation of dance, and to bring into relief contemporary issues and open research questions. The review addresses six topics: 1) dancers’ exemplary motor control, in terms of postural control, equilibrium maintenance, and stabilization; 2) how dancers’ timing and on-line synchronization are influenced by attention demands and motor experience; 3) the critical roles played by sequence learning and memory; 4) how dancers make strategic use of visual and motor imagery; 5) the insights into the neural coupling between action and perception yielded through exploration of the brain architecture mediating dance observation; and 6) a neuroaesthetics perspective that sheds new light on the way audiences perceive and evaluate dance expression. Current and emerging issues are presented regarding future directions that will facilitate the ongoing dialogue between science and dance.

Reading aloud in high schools: students and teachers across the curriculum

Reading aloud is apparently an indispensible part of teaching. Nevertheless, little is known about reading aloud across the curriculum by students and teachers in high schools. Nor do we understand teachers’ attitudes towards issues such as error correction, rehearsal time, and selecting students to read. A survey of 360 teachers in England shows that, although they have little training in reading aloud, they are extremely confident. Reading aloud by students and teachers is strongly related, and serves to further understanding rather than administrative purposes or pupils’ enjoyment. Unexpectedly, Modern Language teachers express views that set them apart from other subjects.

Tracking performance evaluation on PETS 2015 Challenge datasets

This paper presents a quantitative evaluation of a tracking system on PETS 2015 Challenge datasets using well-established performance measures. Using the existing tools, the tracking system implements an end-to-end pipeline that include object detection, tracking and post- processing stages. The evaluation results are presented on the provided sequences of both ARENA and P5 datasets of PETS 2015 Challenge. The results show an encouraging performance of the tracker in terms of accuracy but a greater tendency of being prone to cardinality error and ID changes on both datasets. Moreover, the analysis show a better performance of the tracker on visible imagery than on thermal imagery.

The Golden Age returns: Virgil's fourth Eclogue in the political panegyric of the Italian courts

E. H. Gombrich and others have analysed the uses made of language and imagery from Virgil's famous fourth Eclogue in panegyrical writing by partisans of the Medici dynasty in Florence. This study examines the appropriation of the theme of the returning Golden Age and related motifs from the fourth Eclogue in other Italian courts during the same period, by supporters of the Visconti and Sforza of Milan, the Gonzaga of Mantua, Leonello d'Este and his successors in Ferrara, and the Bentivoglio of Bologna, among others. The deployment of this Virgilian material in political panegyric is seen to be a central element in the self-definition and self-promotion of dynastic rulers throughout the peninsula.

Data insertion in volcanic ash cloud forecasting

During the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in April and May 2010, the London Volcanic Ash  Advisory Centre demonstrated the importance of infrared (IR) satellite imagery for monitoring volcanic ash and validating the Met Office operational model, NAME. This model is used to forecast ash dispersion and forms much of the basis of the advice given to civil aviation. NAME requires a source term describing the properties of the eruption plume at the volcanic source. Elements of the source term are often highly uncertain and significant effort has therefore been invested into the use of satellite observations of ash clouds to constrain them. This paper presents a data insertion method, where satellite observations of downwind ash clouds are used to create effective ‘virtual sources’ far from the vent. Uncertainty in the model output is known to increase over the duration of a model run, as inaccuracies in the source term, meteorological data and the parameterizations of the   modelled processes accumulate. This new technique, where the dispersion model (DM) is ‘reinitialized’ part-­way through a run, could go some way to addressing this.

Observations of supercooling and frazil ice formation in the Laptev Sea coastal polynya

This paper examines a hydrographic response to the wind‐driven coastal polynya activity over the southeastern Laptev Sea shelf for April–May 2008, using a combination of Environmental Satellite (Envisat) advanced synthetic aperture radar (ASAR) and TerraSAR‐X satellite imagery, aerial photography, meteorological data, and SBE‐37 salinity‐temperature‐depth and acoustic Doppler current profiler land‐fast ice edgemoored instruments. When ASAR observed the strongest end‐of‐April polynya event with frazil ice formation, the moored instruments showed maximal acoustical scattering within the surface mixed layer, and the seawater temperatures were either at or 0.02°C below freezing. We also find evidence of the persistent horizontal temperature and salinity gradients across the fast ice edge to have the signature of geostrophic flow adjustment as predicted by polynya models.

The role of evaporating showers in the transfer of sting-jet momentum to the surface

The most damaging winds in a severe extratropical cyclone often occur just ahead of the evaporating ends of cloud filaments emanating from the so-called cloud head. These winds are associated with low-level jets (LLJs), sometimes occurring just above the boundary layer. The question then arises as to how the high momentum is transferred to the surface. An opportunity to address this question arose when the severe ‘St Jude's Day’ windstorm travelled across southern England on 28 October 2013. We have carried out a mesoanalysis of a network of 1 min resolution automatic weather stations and high-resolution Doppler radar scans from the sensitive S-band Chilbolton Advanced Meteorological Radar (CAMRa), along with satellite and radar network imagery and numerical weather prediction products. We show that, although the damaging winds occurred in a relatively dry region of the cyclone, there was evidence within the LLJ of abundant precipitation residues from shallow convective clouds that were evaporating in a localized region of descent. We find that pockets of high momentum were transported towards the surface by the few remaining actively precipitating convective clouds within the LLJ and also by precipitation-free convection in the boundary layer that was able to entrain evaporatively cooled air from the LLJ. The boundary-layer convection was organized in along-wind rolls separated by 500 to about 3000 m, the spacing varying according to the vertical extent of the convection. The spacing was greatest where the strongest winds penetrated to the surface. A run with a medium-resolution version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was able to reproduce the properties of the observed LLJ. It confirmed the LLJ to be a sting jet, which descended over the leading edge of a weaker cold-conveyor-belt jet.

Les dangers de la guerre. L'image du guerrier dans le Brut de La3amon

A study of the lexis and imagery of warfare in the early C13 English adaptation of Wace's Roman de Brut by the English poet La3amon. The narrator's stance is analysed the light of the poet's priestly identity, revealing an undercurrent of disapproval of the glorification of the warrior found in La3amon's sources, and moral concern for combatants engaged in 'unjust' wars of conquest.