14,766 research outputs found

    Material Sight: A Sensorium for Fundamental Physics

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    Often our attempts to connect to the spatial and temporal scales of fundamental physics - from the subatomic to the multiverse - provoke a form of perceptual vertigo, especially for non-scientists. When we approach ideas of paralysing abstraction through the perceptual range of our sensing bodies, a ‘phenomenological dissonance’ can be said to be invoked, between material presence and radical remoteness. This relational dynamic, between materiality and remoteness, formed the conceptual springboard for 'Material Sight' (2016-2018), a research project based at three world-leading facilities for fundamental physics, that brought to fruition a body of photographic objects, film works and immersive soundscape that re-presented the spaces of fundamental physics as sites of material encounter. The research was premised on a paradoxical desire to create a sensorium for fundamental physics, asking if photography, film and sound can embody the spaces of experimental science and present them back to scientists and non-scientists alike, not as illustrations of the technical sublime but as sites of phenomenological encounter. This article plots the key conceptual coordinates of 'Material Sight' and looks at how the project’s methodological design – essentially the production of knowledge through the 'act of looking' – emphatically resisted the gravitational pull of art to be instrumentalised as an illustrative device within scientific contexts

    Mixed Reality Architecture: Concept, Construction, Use

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    Mixed Reality Architecture (MRA) dynamically links and overlays physical and virtual spaces. This paper investigates the topology of and the relationships between the components of MRA. As a phenomenon, MRA takes its place in a long history of technologies that have influenced conditions for social interaction as well as the environment we build around us. However, by providing a flexible spatial topology spanning physical and virtual environments it presents new opportunities for social interaction across electronic media. An experimental MRA is described that allowed us to study some of the emerging issues in this field. It provided material for the development of a framework describing virtual and physical spaces, the links between those and the types of mixed reality structure that we can envisage it being possible to design using these elements. We propose that by re-introducing a level of spatiality into communication across physical and virtual environments MRA will support everyday social interaction, and may convert digital communication media from being socially conservative to a more generative form familiar from physical space

    Acidosis: The Prime Determinant of Depressed Sensorium in Diabetic Ketoacidosis

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    OBJECTIVE — The etiology of altered sensorium in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) remains unclear. Therefore, we sought to determine the origin of depressed consciousness in DKA. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS — We analyzed retrospectively clinical and biochemical data of DKA patients admitted in a community teaching hospital. RESULTS — We recorded 216 cases, 21 % of which occurred in subjects with type 2 diabetes. Mean serum osmolality and pH were 304 31.6 mOsm/kg and 7.14 0.15, respectively. Acidosis emerged as the prime determinant of altered sensorium, but hyperosmolarity played a synergistic role in patients with severe acidosis to precipitate depressed sensorium (odds ratio 2.87). Combination of severe acidosis and hyperosmolarity predicted altered consciousness with 61 % sensitivity and 87 % specificity. Mortality occurred in 0.9 % of the cases. CONCLUSIONS — Acidosis was independently associated with altered sensorium, but hy-perosmolarity and serum “ketone ” levels were not. Combination of hyperosmolarity and acidosis predicted altered sensorium with good sensitivity and specificity. Diabetes Care 33:1837–1839, 2010 D iabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is fre-quently associated with alteredmental status, which is correlated with the severity of the disease and prog-nosis (1). However, the etiology of de-pressed sensorium in DKA remains uncertain and controversial (2,3). Puta-tive factors in the pathogenesis of diabetic ketoacidotic coma include cerebral hypo-perfusion due to circulatory collapse and cerebral thrombosis (4), reduced cerebral glucose and oxygen utilization (1,5), aci-dosis (6,7), hyperosmolarity (8,9), and direct toxic effect of ketone bodies (2). Cerebral edema remains an important precipitant of altered consciousness in DKA, especially in children. Different studies have yielded con-flicting results regarding the role of these etiologic factors in the pathogenesis of al-tered mentation in patients with DKA. Hence, the origin of clouded sensorium in DKA remains to be fully elucidated. We undertook to study the etiology of de-pressed consciousness in patients admit-ted with DKA at the Regional Medica

    Mental Sensorium

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    According to ADAA, nearly one-half of those diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are highly treatable but only 36.9% are receiving any kind of treatment. Anxiety disorders develop based on a set of factors including genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events. Many do not realize but our environment, especially the built environment we inhabit every day can have a positive or negative effect on our mental well-being. Architecture should not just focus on the physical needs of their inhabitants but the mental health needs as well. The built environment has a considerable impact on mental well-being and how it can affect the human mind on a daily basis. Through research, it has been noted that the stimulation of the senses within the built environment can have a positive impact on our mental health. When our senses are activated in a carefully designed way, it can lead to a clearer, more positive perception of the built environment and allow for individual and unique experiences for each person

    HAIR DYE POISONING (An emerging emergency for airway surgeon- a case report)

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    Super-Vasmol, a cheap, freely-available hair dye isemerging as a major cause of suicidal poisoning in India. It contains potential toxins including paraphenylene diamine, resorcinol, sodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and propylene glycol which can result in multiorgan dysfunction2 .This case report is an attempt to throw light on this emerging problem.

    Clinical and investigational study for the aetiological evaluation of patients in nontraumatic altered sensorium and its outcome

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    Background: Apart from head injury many patients present to the tertiary care hospital in unconscious state, the etiology of which is obscure in most of the cases. The present study was conducted with on objective to provide insight into the clinical features and diagnostic methods to know the aetiology of patients with non-traumatic cases of altered sensorium and to study the outcome of these patients.Methods: This is an observational study on 100 patients of altered sensorium of non-traumatic origin during the period from October 2012 to September 2014 conducted in the Department of General Medicine, MKCG Medical College Hospital, Berhampur, Odisha, India. All patients were selected for the study based on the inclusion exclusion criteria. Detailed history, clinical evaluation, laboratory investigations like neuroimaging studies etc. were carried out. Statistical data analysis was done using Graph pad Prism 6 and Microsoft Excel. P value <0.0001 was considered statistically extremely significant.Results: Out of 100 patients of altered sensorium, 64 were males and 36 were females. All patients were in the age group of 19 to 89 years. Cerebrovascular accident was the most common aetiology of altered sensorium followed by metabolic encephalopathy and infection. Altered sensorium in patients with CVA carries a high mortality. Metabolic causes and younger age indicated a better prognosis, patients with low (Glasgow Coma Score) GCS score of 3 to 4 had poorer prognosis.Conclusions: The results suggest that clinical assessments yield accurate predictive information about the potential for recovery in cases of altered sensorium. So, this study concludes that empirically based estimates of prognosis in the neurologically severely ill provides great reassurance to those involved in a decision-making process, including patients’ families and physicians

    Sound Theology: The Risk of Audition

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    (Excerpt) It was after I had settled on a tide for this presentation that the irony of it all hit me. Thinking about being on this campus and holding forth on the topic on sound theology and the risk of audition, I was suddenly reminded of an autumn day In 1968, when I first came to this University, played an organ audition with then reigning chapel organist, Dr. Philip Gehring. As I reflect back, however, I am not sure whether that experience should be appropriately categorized as a risk or musicological embarrassmen
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