Photography as a tool of Alienation: Aura

Regular photographical imaging record volumetric planes with smooth surfaces. The reason is the camera’s deficiency in perceiving and documenting the visual richness of “persuasive” details in life. HDR imaging methods used in creating this artwork series titled “Aura” helped making invisible organism-like textures emerge and point to the notions of decay and symbiosis. One of the main objectives in this series of artworks is to facilitate the emergence of the experiential visual complexity between the animate and inanimate, that is otherwise not possible to record. The latent aura of textural presences around us is not always noticeable easily since we tend to consume things too fast. With the rich textures achieved after high-dynamic-range-imaging (HDRI) procedures, a new symbiotic painterly visual relationship between biological (humans) and non-biological (space) was intended. In addition, the paper will focus on photography rather as a tool of personal world making, instead of photography as witnessing. During the process of unfolding this practice; notions of superimposition, palimpsest, painting vs. photography, truth, photography as an apparatus to provoke de-familiarization will be covered. The final aim is to confirm photography as a visual language that enriches and transforms human perception

Impressionistic techniques applied in sound art & design

Sound art and design collectively refer to the process of specifying, acquiring, manipulating or generating sonic elements to evoke emotion and environment. Sound is used to convey the intentions, emotions, spirit or aura of a story, performance, or sonic installation. Sound connects unique aural environments, creating an immersive experience via mood and atmosphere. Impressionistic techniques such as Impasto, Pointillism, Sgraffito, Stippling introduced by 19th-century painters captured the essence of their subject in more vivid compositions, exuding authentic movements and atmosphere. This thesis applied impressionistic techniques using sound art and design to project specific mood and atmosphere responses among listeners. Four unique sound textures, each representing a technique from Impressionism, and a fifth composite sound texture were created for this project. All five sound textures were validated as representative of their respective Impressionistic technique. Only sonic Pointillism matched its emotive intent. This outcome supports the research question that sound art and design can be used to direct listeners’ mood and atmosphere responses. Partnering Impressionistic principles with sound art and design offers a deeper palette to sonically deliver more robust, holistic soundscapes for amplifying an audience’s listening experience. This project provides a foundation for future explorations and studies in applying cross-disciplinary artistic techniques with sound art and design or other artistic endeavors

Development of a Scenic Design for \u3cem\u3eBus Stop\u3c/em\u3e by William Inge

A warm and cozy visual sensation and early 1900s architecture provided the basis for this design. It features an intimate space with a comfortable interior where all the characters gather to tell their stories. This approach was shaped by repeated references to bitter cold, blizzard-like weather outside the building in which the play Bus Stop takes place, with the interior providing a safe haven from the ferocious weather and the lonesomeness felt by the characters who find themselves at this bus stop. The visual approach was pursued through a warm color palette and use of William Inge\u27s description of Grace\u27s Diner as a “dingy, street-corner building in a small Kansas town” with a “few antique set dressings and a few modern improvements. Since the play takes place during the early 1950s, the modern improvements Inge references were based on that era. Warm and cozy spaces are usually ones that have been heavily lived in. Therefore, in Grace\u27s establishment the history of the building and its users is noticeable throughout the space with obvious modern improvements added only when absolutely necessary. This design was created for Linfield\u27s Scene Design course. At the 2016 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region VII Conference in Denver, Colorado, the design and associated poster presentation received a Meritorious Achievement Award in the Non-Realized Scenic Design division

Machine learning from coronas using parametrization of images

We were interested to develop an algorithm for detection of coronas of people in altered states of consciousness (two-classes problem). Such coronas are known to have rings (double coronas), special branch-like structure of streamers and/or curious spots. We used several approaches to parametrization of images and various machine learning algorithms. We compared results of computer algorithms with the human expert’s accuracy. Results show that computer algorithms can achieve the same or even better accuracy than that of human experts

A Binary Neural Shape Matcher using Johnson Counters and Chain Codes

In this paper, we introduce a neural network-based shape matching algorithm that uses Johnson Counter codes coupled with chain codes. Shape matching is a fundamental requirement in content-based image retrieval systems. Chain codes describe shapes using sequences of numbers. They are simple and flexible. We couple this power with the efficiency and flexibility of a binary associative-memory neural network. We focus on the implementation details of the algorithm when it is constructed using the neural network. We demonstrate how the binary associative-memory neural network can index and match chain codes where the chain code elements are represented by Johnson codes

Estimating bioavailable reserves and potential leaching of soil P by simple chemical tests

The amounts of P extracted with acid ammonium acetate are significantly correlated with the bioavailable P reserves of Finnish soils. Together with clay percentage the simple extraction method is fairly reliable. In routine soil testing clay% can be estimated visually. Additional improvement in accuracy is possible by extraction with a strong acid. Leaching losses of P are also significantly correlated with acetate-extractable soil P, but the concentration of dissolved phosphate at a certain soil test P value varies with other soil properties and increases with decreasing pH

Disembodiment: Reproduction, Transcription, And Trace

This article poses the question, what is so great about the body? Recent scholarship has emphasized the concept of an embodied cognition and reminded us of the significance of embodiment in musical performance. Yet, vital as these observations may be, they offer only a limited view of what ‘touch’ can mean. Following the semiotic notion of the index as a sign with a real connection to its object, writers and artists such as Friedrich Kittler, Ai Weiwei, Kenneth Goldsmith and Nicolas Donin have reflected on how the reproductions of the gramophone needle, the calligrapher's brush, the blogger's keyboard, and the programmer's code can trace meaningful points of contact. Examples from my own practice illustrate some of the many possible ways that digital traces can be touching

Migraine aura: retracting particle-like waves in weakly susceptible cortex

Cortical spreading depression (SD) has been suggested to underlie migraine aura. Despite a precise match in speed, the spatio-temporal patterns of SD and aura symptoms on the cortical surface ordinarily differ in aspects of size and shape. We show that this mismatch is reconciled by utilizing that both pattern types bifurcate from an instability point of generic reaction-diffusion models. To classify these spatio-temporal pattern we suggest a susceptibility scale having the value [sigma]=1 at the instability point. We predict that human cortex is only weakly susceptible to SD ([sigma]<1), and support this prediction by directly matching visual aura symptoms with anatomical landmarks using fMRI retinotopic mapping. We discuss the increased dynamical repertoire of cortical tissue close to [sigma]=1, in particular, the resulting implications on migraine pharmacology that is hitherto tested in the regime ([sigma]>>1), and potentially silent aura occurring below a second bifurcation point at [sigma]=0 on the susceptible scale

Gypsum-based management practices to prevent phosphorus transportation

Phosphogypsum from Siilinjärvi plant were tested in soil incubation-leaching-studies(I), and in liquid pig manure treatment (II) in farm pit. In soil columns, gypsum additions significantly reduced erodibility and ortho-P concentrations in the leaching water. In the pig manure test, the gypsum-based precipitate fractionated phosphorus to P-rich sediment and to almost P-free upper part. Upper low-P fraction represented 2/3 of the total manure volume