The normalization of the cyborg: from futuristic artistic expression of mutilation to daily aesthetic beauty

The concept of mutilation as a permanent scarring of the integrity of the body has been overcome by the representation in visual culture of the cyborg, the bionic human and the genetically and bionically engineered mutant. Mutants with bionic prosthetics in the X-Men film trilogy, the bionic man in The Six Million Dollar Man (1974) and his companion The Bionic Woman (1976) as well as The Terminator (1984) with its sequels have contributed to create a new aesthetic perception of the artificial. From the Cyborg Manifesto to theories of Post-humanism and Trans-humanism, the arts have embraced the opportunity of realizing the conjunction between human and machine envisaged at first by Tommaso Marinetti in the Futurist Manifesto. Stelarc has contributed with his performances and body implants to explore new aesthetic forms that conceive the prosthesis as an evolutionary empowering design. If in the arts this approach has created aesthetic debates and polarizations between bioconservatism and technoprogressivism, how is the reality of mutilation approached by people in their daily lives? The paper analyzes whether the aesthetic perception of prosthetics is that of a permanent sign of mutilation or that of a new technological empowerment. “In the last two to three years many men have asked to have prosthetics without coverage, leaving the metal part visible. They tell me that a leg like this is more futuristic! Maybe they feel more masculine because the metallic leg gives them the sensation of being bionic, half human and half machine. Men under fifty especially request it. At the opposite end of the spectrum, women ask for symmetric prosthetics very similar to the one they lost.” Interview with Dr. X at the Limb Fitting Centre, London. If the visual arts have created an experience and imagination of post-humanity as the futuristic merging of human and machine that the public perceives as increasingly achievable, what are the new frontiers of aesthetic exploration? Are the aesthetics of post-humanity becoming those of a ‘normalization’ of cyborgology? The paper will argue that the contemporary aesthetics of futuristic empowerment look to artists and designers in order to deliver new modes of aesthetic consumption for a technology no longer perceived as reconstruction of a mutilation but as the empowering necessary framework to facilitate the transition from human to super-human

The KKˉπK \bar K \pi decay of the f1(1285)f_1(1285) and its nature as a K∗Kˉ−ccK^* \bar K -cc molecule

We investigate the decay of $f_1(1285) \to \pi K \bar K$ with the assumption that the $f_1(1285)$ is dynamically generated from the $K^* \bar{K} - cc$ interaction. In addition to the tree level diagrams that proceed via $f_1(1285) \to K^* \bar{K} - cc \to \pi K \bar K$, we take into account also the final state interactions of $K \bar K \to K \bar K$ and $\pi K \to \pi K$. The partial decay width and mass distributions of $f_1(1285) \to \pi K \bar K$ are evaluated. We get a value for the partial decay width which, within errors, is in fair agreement with the experimental result. The contribution from the tree level diagrams is dominant, but the final state interactions have effects in the mass distributions. The predicted mass distributions are significantly different from phase space and tied to the $K^* \bar{K} - cc$ nature of the $f_1(1285)$ state.Comment: Published versio

Study of BBˉ∗B\bar{B}^* and B∗Bˉ∗B^*\bar{B}^* interactions in I=1I=1 and relationship to the Zb(10610)Z_b(10610), Zb(10650)Z_b(10650) states

We use the local hidden gauge approach in order to study the $B\bar{B}^*$ and $B^*\bar{B}^*$ interactions for isospin I=1. We show that both interactions via one light meson exchange are not allowed by OZI rule and, for that reason, we calculate the contributions due to the exchange of two pions, interacting and noninteracting among themselves, and also due to the heavy vector mesons. Then, to compare all these contributions, we use the potential related to the heavy vector exchange as an effective potential corrected by a factor which takes into account the contribution of the others light mesons exchange. In order to look for poles, this effective potential is used as the kernel of the Bethe-Salpeter equation. As a result, for the $B\bar{B}^*$ interaction we find a loosely bound state with mass in the range $10587-10601$ MeV, very close to the experimental value of the $Z_b(10610)$ reported by Belle Collaboration. For the $B^*\bar{B}^*$ case, we find a cusp at $10650$ MeV for all spin $J=0,\,1,\,2$ cases.Comment: 23 pages, 20 figure

Wave functions of composite hadron states and relationship to couplings of scattering amplitudes for general partial waves

In this paper we present the connection between scattering amplitudes in momentum space and wave functions in coordinate space, generalizing previous work done for s-waves to any partial wave. The relationship to the wave function of the residues of the scattering amplitudes at the pole of bound states or resonances is investigated in detail. A sum rule obtained for the couplings provides a generalization to coupled channels, any partial wave and bound or resonance states, of Weinberg's compositeness condition, which was only valid for weakly bound states in one channel and s-wave. An example, requiring only experimental data, is shown for the $\rho$ meson indicating that it is not a composite particle of $\pi \pi$ but something else

Higher Spanier Groups

When non-trivial local structures are present in a topological space X, a common ap- proach to characterizing the isomorphism type of the n-th homotopy group πn(X, x0) is to consider the image of πn(X, x0) in the n-th ˇCech homotopy group ˇπn(X, x0) under the canonical homomorphism Ψn : πn(X, x0) → ˇπn(X, x0). The subgroup ker Ψn is the obstruc- tion to this tactic as it consists of precisely those elements of πn(X, x0), which cannont be detected by polyhedral approximations to X. In this paper we present a definition of higher dimensional analouges of Thick Spanier groups use higher dimensional Spanier groups to characterize ker Ψn. In particular, we prove that if X is paracompact, Hausdroff, and UVn−1, then ker Ψn is equal to the n-th Spanier group of X. We also use the perspec- tive of higher Spanier groups to generalize a theorem of Kozlowski-Segal, which gives conditions to ensure that Ψn is an isomorphis

European Avant-Garde: Art, Borders and Culture in Relationship to Mainstream Cinema and New Media

This research analyses the impact of transformation and hybridization processes at the intersection of art, science and technology. These forms of transformation and hybridization are the result of contemporary interactions between classic and digital media. It discusses the concept of 'remediation' presented by Bolter and proposes the concept of 'digital ekphrasis,' which is based on Manovich' s analyses of the interactions between classic and digital media. This is a model which, borrowed from semiotic structures, encompasses the technical as well as aesthetic and philosophical transformations of contemporary media. The thesis rejects Baudrillard's and Virilio's proposed concepts of 'digital black hole' as the only possible form of evolution of contemporary digital media. It proposes a different concept for the evolutionary model of contemporary hybridization processes based on contemporary forms of hybridizations that are rooted in aesthetic, philosophical and technological developments. This concept is argued as emancipated from the 'religious' idea of a 'divine originated' perfect image that Baudrillard and Virilio consider to be deteriorated from contemporary hybridization experimentation. The thesis proposes, through historical examples in the fine arts, the importance of transmedia migrations and experimentations as the framework for a philosophical, aesthetic and technological evolutionary concept of humanity freed from the restrictions of religious imperatives

The influence of mother’s personality on the decision about the elective cesarean section: a pilot study with a sample of 16 new mothers

To investigate the psychological profile of a sample of new mothers, who requested an elective caesarean section (CS), compared with a group of women who had a CS in emergency. Women who chose CS without medical indications showed more somatic anxiety levels, expressed with a hypochondriac rumination and an obsessive way to control their body. This seems associated with more neuroticism and more symptoms of depression which may lead to a higher risk of develop postnatal depression

Isospin breaking and f0(980)f_0(980)-a0(980)a_0(980) mixing in the η(1405)→π0f0(980)\eta(1405) \to \pi^{0} f_0(980) reaction

We make a theoretical study of the $\eta(1405) \to \pi^{0} f_0(980)$ and $\eta(1405) \to \pi^{0} a_0(980)$ reactions with an aim to determine the isospin violation and the mixing of the $f_0(980)$ and $a_0(980)$ resonances. We make use of the chiral unitary approach where these two resonances appear as composite states of two mesons, dynamically generated by the meson-meson interaction provided by chiral Lagrangians. We obtain a very narrow shape for the $f_0(980)$ production in agreement with a BES experiment. As to the amount of isospin violation, or $f_0(980)$ and $a_0(980)$ mixing, assuming constant vertices for the primary $\eta(1405)\rightarrow \pi^{0}K\bar{K}$ and $\eta(1405)\rightarrow \pi^{0}\pi^{0}\eta$ production, we find results which are much smaller than found in the recent experimental BES paper, but consistent with results found in two other related BES experiments. We have tried to understand this anomaly by assuming an I=1 mixture in the $\eta(1405)$ wave function, but this leads to a much bigger width of the $f_0(980)$ mass distribution than observed experimentally. The problem is solved by using the primary production driven by $\eta' \to K^* \bar K$ followed by $K^* \to K \pi$, which induces an extra singularity in the loop functions needed to produce the $f_0(980)$ and $a_0(980)$ resonances. Improving upon earlier work along the same lines, and using the chiral unitary approach, we can now predict absolute values for the ratio $\Gamma(\pi^0, \pi^+ \pi^-)/\Gamma(\pi^0, \pi^0 \eta)$ which are in fair agreement with experiment. We also show that the same results hold if we had the $\eta(1475)$ resonance or a mixture of these two states, as seems to be the case in the BES experiment

Elements of Higher Homotopy Groups Undetectable by Polyhedral Approximation

When nontrivial local structures are present in a topological space X, a common approach to characterizing the isomorphism type of the n-th homotopy group πn(X, x0) is to consider the image of πn(X, x0) in the nth Cˇ ech homotopy group πˇ n(X, x0) under the canonical homomorphism 9n : πn(X, x0) → πˇ n(X, x0). The subgroup ker(9n) is the obstruction to this tactic as it consists of precisely those elements of πn(X, x0), which cannot be detected by polyhedral approximations to X. In this paper, we use higher dimensional analogues of Spanier groups to characterize ker(9n). In particular, we prove that if X is paracompact, Hausdorff, and LCn−1, then ker(9n) is equal to the n-th Spanier group of X. We also use the perspective of higher Spanier groups to generalize a theorem of Kozlowski–Segal, which gives conditions ensuring that 9n is an isomorphism