The Imaginary Voyage: an online opera

This short feature describes a project to create an online opera which deploys a new web technology, the Syzygy Surfer, developed in the Institute of Creative Technologies (IOCT) at De Montfort University. The project is a collaboration between the IOCT and The Opera Group (now Mahogany Opera Group)

Who has been tampering with these pianos?: The surrealist writings of Montagu O’Reilly (Wayne Andrews).

This article makes a case for Wayne Andrews as a neglected and original voice in American surrealism. The article begins by examining his periodical La revue de l'élite (1930-33) (later La revue intime and Demain) as evidence of his early interest in European avant-gardism. Next, it offers close readings of the short stories he wrote under the nom de plume “Montagu O'Reilly.” Within overtly surrealist narratives, these stories conceal a series of encounters between a sickly European high culture, characterised by consumptive girls, imperilled aristocrats, failing pianos and a vigorous American materialism, represented by thrusting bankers, ostentatious socialites, gleaming technologies. They provide a novel twist on some of the familiar tropes of surrealism, but also reveal something of how its revolutionary vision was subtly undermined during its transatlantic passage. In particular, the article discusses Andrews/O’Reilly’s fascination with the outmoded and the uncanny and how they are modified through their staged encounters with American wealth. It concludes with a discussion of Andrews' later works, including his unfinished history of surrealism, The Surrealist Parade (1988)

The creative turn: new challenges for computing

This is a call to action. The time is ripe for a creative turn in computing. This article sets out a vision of what Creative Computing is and what it might become. It distinguishes between Creative Computing and computational creativity, and then lays out a theoretical framework. It proposes that Creative Computing is mainly happening in software. It compares the process of software development with the process of artistic creation and looks at ways in which the two might productively overlap or merge. It considers the levels of abstraction required in both and interrogates both their semantics and underlying principles from a philosophical and practical point of view. Finally, it sets three types of new challenges for Creative Computing in terms of software

PRASCAL: a pataphysical programming language

This paper introduces PRASCAL, a programming language that distorts traditional PASCAL using pataphysical principles. The aim of the language is to stimulate creativity and to embed playfulness in computer systems. A wider aim is to reach towards a less severe, more human, form of logic. Pataphysics was a concept elaborated by the French writer and poet Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) in a series of plays and novels, as well as through his own life. It is defined as the science of imaginary solutions and the science of the laws governing exceptions and contradictions. PRASCAL applies this concept through mechanisms such as patadata and Uboolean logic to arrive at a language which is always exceptional and particular

Audio only computer games – Papa Sangre

This article attempts to analyse the audio-only game Papa Sangre. It discusses the background to the analysis and the history of of audio-only games, before concentrating upon Papa Sangre itself. It locates the game within the survival horror genre and explores how the gameplay operates from both a technical and player's point of view. It then locates the analysis within a field of film and game sound analysis, considering how audio-only games differ from videogames. It outlines several theoretical approaches to the typology of videogame sound, before proposing a hybrid approach that is more appropriate to audio-only games. It applies this to the sound world of Papa Sangre and analyses some captured gameplay. The essay concludes by suggesting a relationship between Papa Sangre and musical performance and composition

A randomised controlled trial and cost-consequence analysis of traditional and digital foot orthoses supply chains in a National Health Service setting : application to feet at risk of diabetic plantar ulceration

Background: Diabetic foot ulceration is a considerable cost to the NHS and foot orthotic provision is a core strategy for the management of the people with diabetes and a moderate to high risk of foot ulceration. The traditional process to produce a custom-made foot orthotic device is to use manual casting of foot shape and physical moulding of orthoses materials. Parts of this process can be undertaken using digital tools rather than manual processes with potential advantages. The aim of this trial was to provide the first comparison of a traditional orthoses supply chain to a digital supply chain over a 6 month period. The trial used plantar pressure, health status, and health service time and cost data to compare the two supply chains. Methods: 57 participants with diabetes were randomly allocated to each supply chain. Plantar pressure data and health status (EQ5D, ICECAP) was assessed at point of supply and at sixmonths. The costs for orthoses and clinical services accessed by participants were assessed over the 6 months of the trial. Primary outcomes were: reduction in peak plantar pressure at the site of highest pressure, assessed for non-inferiority to current care. Secondary outcomes were: reduction in plantar pressure at foot regions identified as at risk (>200kPa), costconsequence analysis (supply chain, clinician time, service use) and health status. Results: At point of supply pressure reduction for the digital supply chain was non-inferior to a predefined margin and superior (p<0.1) to the traditional supply chain, but both supply chains were inferior to the margin after six months. Custom-made orthoses significantly reduced pressure for at risk regions compared to a flat control (traditional -13.85%, digital -20.52%). The digital supply chain was more expensive (+£13.17) and required more clinician time (+35minutes). There were no significant differences in health status or service use between supply chains. Conclusions: Custom made foot orthoses reduce pressure as expected. Given some assumptions about the cost models we used, the supply chain process adopted to produce the orthoses seems to have marginal impact on overall costs and health status. Trial Registration: retrospectively registered on ISRCTN registry (ISRCTN10978940, 04/11/2015). Key Words: Foot Orthotic, Biomechanics, Diabetes, Plantar Pressure, Cost, Health Economics, Supply Chai

The multiple ionospheric probe Auroral ionospheric report

Multiple impedance and resonance probe payload for ionospheric property observation in Nike- Apache rocke

Two-dimensional turbulence in magnetised plasmas

In an inhomogeneous magnetised plasma the transport of energy and particles perpendicular to the magnetic field is in general mainly caused by quasi two-dimensional turbulent fluid mixing. The physics of turbulence and structure formation is of ubiquitous importance to every magnetically confined laboratory plasma for experimental or industrial application. Specifically, high temperature plasmas for fusion energy research are also dominated by the properties of this turbulent transport. Self-organisation of turbulent vortices to mesoscopic structures like zonal flows is related to the formation of transport barriers that can significantly enhance the confinement of a fusion plasma. This subject of great importance in research is rarely touched on in introductory plasma physics or continuum dynamics courses. Here a brief tutorial on 2D fluid and plasma turbulence is presented as an introduction to the field, appropriate for inclusion in undergraduate and graduate courses.Comment: This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article published in European Journal of Physics. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The definitive publisher authenticated version is available online at doi: 10.1088/0143-0807/29/5/00

A sandpile model with tokamak-like enhanced confinement phenomenology

Confinement phenomenology characteristic of magnetically confined plasmas emerges naturally from a simple sandpile algorithm when the parameter controlling redistribution scalelength is varied. Close analogues are found for enhanced confinement, edge pedestals, and edge localised modes (ELMs), and for the qualitative correlations between them. These results suggest that tokamak observations of avalanching transport are deeply linked to the existence of enhanced confinement and ELMs.Comment: Manuscript is revtex (latex) 1 file, 7 postscript figures Revised version is final version accepted for publication in PRL Revisions are mino

The business school in the Anthropocene: parasite logic and pataphysical reasoning for a working earth

We have entered the Anthropocene: a new geological epoch in which human activities, led by business interests, have inexorably compromised the Earth System. The current failure to provide a comprehensive and systematic response to this transition does not result from a lack of reason but is instead the manifestation of a generalized crisis in communication. Drawing from the work of Serres, we analyze how the roots of this crisis lie with the 'parasite logic', which has prevented reasoned responses to the Anthropocene. To work through this crisis, it is necessary to adopt different forms of reasoning and imagination to reshape the rational basis of management education. We propose to do it through pataphysics, a science subjecting dominant modes of rationality to a divergent thinking of the absurd and proposing playful forms of reasoning. Pataphysics provides a mechanism for developing 'imaginary solutions' to the current situation, that can disrupt anthropocentric forms of reason and reasoning, and further serve to slow down the endless cycles of inclusion and exclusion that arise from parasite logic. Finally, we propose slow design as an example of an 'imaginary solution' that comes from this process of conceptual and practical deacceleration