BEINGS

BEINGS has been published by Salt n Pepper Press to coincide with an exhibition held at Village bookstore in Leeds as part of Index Festival, a series of fringe events alongside Yorkshire Sculpture International. Village hosted a series of photographic exhibitions focused around sculpture and form. As a project it adds to the conversation about how photographic images speak about the sculptural nature of their subject, and in fact contribute to a transformation of 'things' into something that can be interpreted as sculptural objects. Objects come into being with an intended purpose; a reason to exist. This ‘stuff’ then sloshes around the everyday, like detritus: sometimes being useful (as intended); sometimes just being stuff. The area outside these two states is like a transformation, when an object or an environment can be seen as a separate entity from its particular function. In BEINGS, objects and environments are what they appear to be; a cheese pot, a ladder, a piece of laminate flooring, a road. However, they are also constituent parts of a larger whole, like the matter from which they are themselves made. Where these object-particles collide they create something new that is without a particular purpose, but which takes on a new sculptural form. In this context of remixing the everyday, some subjects instead sit as-found. Sitting in the glow of their reconfigured counterparts, they are somehow altered by association. They have a sculptural potential radiating beyond their use-function

Social and Emotional Skills Develop Through Play-Based Learning

This action research study was driven by the researcher’s interest in play-based learning. This action research investigates if social and emotional skills develop through play in a preschool classroom setting. This action research answered the question: Can social and emotional skills develop through play-based learning? Preschool students were engaged in developmental learning play-based learning centers that helped them academically, socially, and emotionally. Teachers were more intentional with interactions with students. Teachers were more present with students, encouraging engagement with learning opportunities. This research study was conducted throughout the 2021 – 2022 academic school year. Data was collected throughout two Teaching Strategies GOLD checkpoints in the school year

Integrated sensors for robotic laser welding

A welding head is under development with integrated sensory systems for robotic laser welding applications. Robotic laser welding requires sensory systems that are capable to accurately guide the welding head over a seam in three-dimensional space and provide information about the welding process as well as the quality of the welding result. In this paper the focus is on seam tracking. It is difficult to measure three-dimensional parameters of a ream during a robotic laser welding task, especially when sharp corners are present. The proposed sensory system is capable to provide the three dimensional parameters of a seam in one measurement and guide robots over sharp corners

Sequential Monte Carlo methods for epidemic data

Epidemics often occur rapidly, with new cases being observed daily. Due to the frequently severe social and economic consequences of an outbreak, this is an area of research that benefits greatly from online inference. This motivates research into the construction of fast, adaptive methods for performing real-time statistical analysis of epidemic data. The aim of this thesis is to develop sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods for infectious disease outbreaks. These methods utilize the observed removal times of individuals, obtained throughout the outbreak. The SMC algorithm adaptively generates samples from the evolving posterior distribution, allowing for the real-time estimation of the parameters underpinning the outbreak. This is achieved by transforming the samples when new data arrives, so that they represent samples from the posterior distribution which incorporates all of the data. To assess the performance of the SMC algorithm we additionally develop a novel Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm, utilising adaptive proposal schemes to improve its mixing. We test the SMC and MCMC algorithms on various simulated outbreaks, finding that the two methods produce comparable results in terms of parameter estimation and disease dynamics. However, due to the parallel nature of the SMC algorithm it is computationally much faster. The SMC and MCMC algorithms are applied to the 2001 UK Foot-and-Mouth outbreak: notable for its rapid spread and requirement of control measures to contain the outbreak. This presents an ideal candidate for real-time analysis. We find good agreement between the two methods, with the SMC algorithm again much quicker than the MCMC algorithm. Additionally, the performed inference matches well with previous work conducted on this data set. Overall, we find that the SMC algorithm developed is suitable for the real-time analysis of an epidemic and is highly competitive with the current gold-standard of MCMC methods, whilst being computationally much quicker

EBW technology applied on the ICRF antenna component

Central conductor is one of the key components of ion cyclotron ranges of heating antenna, which is usually formed by welding due to the complex structures. High level of welding seam quality and small deformation are very important to central conductor. Electron beam welding (EBW) is suggested as the central conductor welding. To meet EBW requirements and reduce the risk, complex and high level of the accuracy welding fixture have been designed for central conductor EBW. Some samples were manufactured to do test and examination for EBW qualification before central conductor welding. Based on the welding parameters, thermal analysis using finite element method for the welding seam have been carried out. One mockup of central conductor for EBW has been made for proving welding parameters. In addition, some postwelding process were employed after one central conductor EBW. Results of examination and inspection of one central conductor using EBW are presented in this paper

Robotized FSW – Evolution of forces and torque with nonlinear welds

The main purpose of the article is to study the evolution of the welding forces and torque with non-straight welding path. The main studies performed on forces and torque are usually done on plane straight welding path when the processing parameter are developed. As industrializing robotized FSW, the robot structure deformation under FSW load depends on the forces generated on the tool. Thus, in order to compensate the robot deformation automatically through the control, statistical model giving the welding forces and torque as function of the process parameters is established. This article deals with the study of the forces and torque generated as welding circular and semi-circular welds. The effect of the welding direction (i.e. position of advancing and retreating side) is also analyzed. The objective is to determine if the statistical model giving the welding forces and torque as function of the process parameters developed on straight line can be applied for welding different weld path geometries

#prank4offices

The output is a creative project, #pranks4offices, consisting of a series of photographs. Research process: Over several years, Welding has regularly searched the hashtag ‘#officepranks’, and collected an archive of hundreds of vernacular images. This led him to make informal comparisons on an aesthetic and process level with the work of art photographers. Iamronjay42 and Iaminstapauli0 were the Instagram names of two fictional office workers that engaged in a fictional office prank war. These characters were created as a vehicle to make the project #prank4offices for FORMAT International Photography Festival in 2015. Their office desks were set up in the exhibition venue at either end of the room, positioned facing each other. Over a number of weekends in March 2015, a series of pranks were staged on their desks, photographed then dismantled. The photographs were shared on the Instagram accounts, with the characters commenting on each other’s posts and continuing the fictional narrative. In the final exhibition, the two desks remained; one was surrounded by 700 plastic cups filled with water, the other completely wrapped in cling film. The audience was directed to view the photographs of the previous pranks on their phones whilst they stood in the exhibition space, revealing evidence of the office prank war. Research insights: The project raises questions about the role of creativity within the sphere of art practice and within everyday environments and the project playfully considers the merging of these two areas of production. The project also continues an ongoing critique of our relationships with daily working lives, where creative activities often run counter to the wider company aspirations of productivity. Dissemination: The project was disseminated at the FORMAT International Photography Festival, Derby, 13 March – 12 April 2015

Automatic reel controls filler wire in welding machines

Automatic reel on automatic welding equipment takes up slack in the reel-fed filler wire when welding operation is terminated. The reel maintains constant, adjustable tension on the wire during the welding operation and rewinds the wire from the wire feed unit when the welding is completed

Welding high-strength aluminum alloys

Handbook has been published which integrates results of 19 research programs involving welding of high-strength aluminum alloys. Book introduces metallurgy and properties of aluminum alloys by discussing commercial alloys and heat treatments. Several current welding processes are reviewed such as gas tungsten-arc welding and gas metal-arc welding