Dissecting the Criminal Corpse

Those convicted of homicide were hanged on the public gallows before being dissected under the Murder Act in Georgian England. Yet, from 1752, whether criminals actually died on the hanging tree or in the dissection room remained a medical mystery in early modern society. Dissecting the Criminal Corpse takes issue with the historical cliché of corpses dangling from the hangman’s rope in crime studies. Some convicted murderers did survive execution in early modern England. Establishing medical death in the heart-lungs-brain was a physical enigma. Criminals had large bull-necks, strong willpowers, and hearty survival instincts. Extreme hypothermia often disguised coma in a prisoner hanged in the winter cold. The youngest and fittest were capable of reviving on the dissection table. Many died under the lancet. Capital legislation disguised a complex medical choreography that surgeons staged. They broke the Hippocratic Oath by executing the Dangerous Dead across England from 1752 until 1832

Filamin B hinge-1 in joint development

In this study I aim to evaluate how the actin binding protein filamin B influences the development of cartilaginous structures of the skeleton, that when mutated, causes a range of disorders impacting large joints, limb development and craniofacial aspects of the body. Joints are an essential part of any organism as they allow for movement and are therefore extremely complex mechanical structures. The soft tissue elements of the joints are important because they provide these joints the ability to withstand immense forces from movement. Little is known about how filamin B is involved in the formation of the soft tissues in the developing joint and therefore the lack of understanding of how filamin B variants lead to the dislocation of the large joints seen in Larsen syndrome and other filamin B related syndromes. Joint development is critical in analysing how filamin B is involved in the formation and rare disease are an extremely valuable tool in approaching this. Rare genetic diseases such as Atelosteogenesis types I (AOI), Atelosteogenesis type III (AOIII), Boomerang dysplasia (BD) Spondylocarpotarsal synostosis syndrome (SCTS) and Larsen syndrome (LS) can all show different aspects of development that has been disrupted from various mutations within the filamin B gene. These are able to provide indications on what section of the filamin B protein, then when perturbed, leads to developmental abnormalities. In this study I used two mouse models tagged with the fluorophore mCherry and eGFP to track the development of joints in mice, in relation to filamin B both with and without the protein’s hinge-1. My research found that both forms of hinge-1 included filamin B and hinge-1 excluded filamin B are found during development. It was also shown that red puncta indicating hinge-1 excluded filamin B is present within the joint capsule between the forming femur and tibia at E15.5. These red puncta were observed in the cells adjacent to the cellular membrane. During development the red puncta were exclusively defined to the joint spaces within all developing legs examined at E15.5. It was also shown that the critical point for knee joint ligament formation is between mouse embryonic time points E15.5 and E16.5

Into theatre, under the knife: cultures of dissection and contemporary art practice

Dissection can be considered a process of calculated dividing and a form of meticulous dismantling. As a method of analysis, it remains inextricably linked to explorations of the human body and the investigations staged to uncover its hidden depths. This research examines historical cultures of dissection and their relationship to contemporary art practice. It proposes that such a culture is characterised by an inherent cutting spectacle; one that remains grounded within a complex and pre-existing visual culture that has dissected, divided and dismantled the body and its image. Into theatre, Under the Knife: Cultures of Dissection and Contemporary Art Practice is the outcome of a practice-led research project comprising this written thesis and a diverse body of work that spans sculpture, assemblage, installation and painting. Across the development of both the textual and creative work, cutting has been employed as a methodology for the research, and forms a significant basis for the material and conceptual inquiry of the study. Over the course of this thesis historical source material, theoretical propositions and the work of contemporary artists are gradually and methodically dissected for examination. The paper that has then developed as a result of this process-led research proposes a series of significant intersections, and a framework of ‘cuttings and cross-cuttings’ to consider art practice as a form of anatomical enquiry. In suggesting these points of connection, and by intentionally traversing the historical and contemporary, new ground is proposed to consider a culture of dissection within contemporary art through an analyses of the seminal practitioners who maintain and continue to enact their own distinct practice of cutting. Whether undertaken as a light incision to permeate a surface, or a dramatic slash that severs, this research will attempt to reveal that cutting is a significant yet under-recognised gesture being used by contemporary artists. Much like the surgeon or anatomist who performs incisions in theatre, artists too inflict cutting gestures with strategic and decisive intent. The cutting gesture that embodies both dual creative and destructive possibilities acts also as a sign of authorship, a signature of authenticity from one who wields the knife

Initiation and control of gait from first principles: a mathematically animated model of the foot

The initiation of bipedal gait is a willed action that causes a body at rest to move. Newton's first principle of motion is applied to experimental footprint data. leading to the premise that the big toe is the source of the body action force that initiates and controls bipedal gait

Growing machines

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2004.Includes bibliographical references.construction is developed in three dimensions. It is similarly shown that right-angled tetrahedrons, when folded from an edge-connected string, can generate any three dimensional structure where the primitive pixel (or voxel) is a rhombic hexahedron. This construction also suggests a concept of 3D completeness for assembly, somewhat analogous to the concept of Turing completeness in computation. In combination, these pieces of work suggest that a manufacturing system based on four tiles, with seven states per tile, is capable of self-replication of arbitrary 3D structure by copying, then folding, bit strings of those tiles where the desired structure is encoded in the tile sequence.Biological systems are replete with examples of high complexity structures that have "self assembled," or more accurately, programmatically assembled from many smaller, simpler components. By comparison, the fabrication systems engineered by humans are typically top down, or subtractive, processes where systems of limited complexity are carved from bulk materials. Self-assembly to date has resembled crystallization more than it has the programmatic assembly of complex or useful structures--these systems are information limited. This thesis explores the programming of self-assembling systems by the introduction of small amounts of state to the sub-units of the assembly. A six-state, kinematic, conformational latching component is presented that is capable of self-replicating bit strings of two shape differentiated versions of the same component where the two variants represent the 0 and 1 bits. Individual units do not assemble until a string is introduced to the assembly environment to be copied. Electro-mechanical state machine emulators were constructed. Operating on an air table, the units demonstrated logic limited aggregation, or error-preventing assembly, as well as autonomous self-replication of bit strings. A new construction was developed that demonstrates that any two dimensional shape composed of square pixels can be deterministically folded from a linear string of vertex-connected square tiles. This non-intersecting series of folds implies a 'resolution' limit of four tiles per pixel. It is shown that four types of tiles, patterned magnetically, is sufficient to construct any shape given sequential folding. The construction was implemented to fold the letters 'M I T' from sequences of the 4 tile types. An analogousSaul Thomas Griffith.Ph.D

The life and work of Major Percy Alexander MacMahon

This thesis describes the life and work of the mathematician Major Percy Alexander MacMahon (1854 - 1929). His early life as a soldier in the Royal Artillery and events which led to him embarking on a career in mathematical research and teaching are dealt with in the first two chapters. Succeeding chapters explain the work in invariant theory and partition theory which brought him to the attention of the British mathematical community and eventually resulted in a Fellowship of the Royal Society, the presidency of the London Mathematical Society, and the award of three prestigious mathematical medals and four honorary doctorates. The development and importance of his recreational mathematical work is traced and discussed. MacMahon's career in the Civil Service as Deputy Warden of the Standards at the Board of Trade is also described. Throughout the thesis, his involvement with the British Association for the Advancement of Science and other scientific organisations is highlighted. The thesis also examines possible reasons why MacMahon's work, held in very high regard at the time, did not lead to the lasting fame accorded to some of his contemporaries. Details of his personal and social life are included to give a picture of MacMahon as a real person working hard to succeed in a difficult context

Some aspects of the biology and control of Earias huegeli Rog.

Descriptions are given of the egg, larva, pupa and moth of Earias huegeli Rog. and of the moth of the other important economic species in Australia, Earias vitella (F.) as well as characters for use in the separation of the two species. The distribution and economic status of the two species are also given. Studies were carried out on the biology of E. huegeli. These showed that no larvae emerged from eggs held at or below 13.0°C. The minimum temperature for development appeared to lie in the range of 13.0 to 16.2°C. The mean developmental period of eggs varied from 60.0 hours at 37.5°C. and 53 per cent, relative humidity to 372.3 hours at 16.2°C. and 57 per cent, relative humidity. Humidity differences produced large changes in the developmental period of eggs only at 37.5⁰C. where the mean period increased from 70.5 hours at 49.0 per cent, relative humidity to 120 hours at 0 per cent, relative humidity. High egg mortalities occurred when eggs were subjected to extremes of temperature and humidity. These were 0 per cent, relative humidity combined with 16.2 and 37.5⁰ C., and 100 per cent, relative humidity combined with 16.2, 23.5 and 37.5°C. The five larval instars were differentiated by the use of head capsule size ranges. The mean developmental periods of the larval instars were:- first instar, 3.5 days; second, 2.8 days; third, 3,1 days; fourth, 3.1 days; fifth 4.6 days. The mean maximum and minimum temperatures during the observation period were 24.7 and 22.6°C. respectively. No pupation occurred below 15.5°C.; however, survival for protracted periods is possible at 12.5°C. The mean developmental period of larvae varied from 12.2 days at 36.0°C.to 53.3 days at 15.5°C. Studies on larval feeding behaviour showed that squares and young bolls were preferred to the more mature bolls. Larvae fed on all parts of the squares and bolls and normally remained at the one feeding site unless forced to move by adverse conditions. Most squares and young bolls attacked by larvae were shed by the plant while larger damaged bolls were retained. Only a small percentage of the potential yield of the damaged bolls remained available owing to the losses from larval feeding, distortion of the bolls and to the entry of rotting organisms. Larvae were able to change feeding sites, the degree of success depending upon the age of the larvae and the availability of an alternative site. Larvae also fed in the terminals of the cotton plant. This feeding, which normally takes place before the production of squares, resulted in loss of apical dominance and the consequent production of a bushy plant