Virtual Nature: A practice-led enquiry into the relationship between painting and vernacular photography through the process of the painted monotype

My practice-led research explores the relationship between painting and vernacular photography through the process of painted monotypes. This project has developed from an ongoing fascination with the visual qualities of photography and what happens when you translate photographs into other material forms, such as painting. The aim of this project is to develop images that interrogate how painted monotypes provide a distinctive interpretation of embodied experience through their visual, material and sensory qualities. Today, like no other time in history, photography is embedded in our daily lives through hand-held devices and the interface of the digital screen. My research examines how this embedded experience of the photographic relates to the processes and visual qualities of the painted monotype. The project is focused on three primary locations as subject matter: the aquarium, the botanical glasshouse and the habitat diorama. Through my research I explore how these sites function in optically and conceptually similar ways to the world of images, through shared notions of virtuality and indexicality. This research is informed by the work of Édouard Vuillard, Mamma Andersson, Peter Doig, David Hockney and the landscapes of Gustav Klimt. These painters interrogate the territory between painting and lens-based images in very specific ways, relating to visual perception, embodied vision, figure and ground relationships, and visual textures. In a theoretical context, my examination of the relationship between painting and photography has been motivated by the writings of Elizabeth Wynne Easton, Aaron Scharf, John Berger and Russell Ferguson; while Anne Friedberg, Rob Shields, Nicholas Mirzoeff, Geoffrey Batchen, Kris Paulsen and Johanna Love have been instrumental in determining a connection to the virtual and the index in my research

Life cycle based environmental impacts of future New Zealand electricity supply : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Environmental Management at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand

Figure 4.1 is re-used with permission.Electricity use is an important contributor to the environmental impacts of many products and services in New Zealand. In this research, the life cycle based potential environmental impacts and benefits of future New Zealand low voltage electricity were assessed based on a range of electricity scenarios (for years 2018-2050). A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach was adopted and Impact Assessment undertaken using twelve environmental indicators. The functional unit was the annual supply of low voltage electricity to New Zealand consumers. It was found that increasing the proportion of renewable generation in the electricity mix has clear environmental benefits. The greatest benefits are observed in indicators where current impacts are predominantly due to combustion of fossil fuels, in particular the climate change indicators, ADP fossil and PED non-renewable. A case study of a New Zealand detached house demonstrated that the choice of future electricity scenario can have a significant impact on the magnitude of the life cycle impacts of this particular long-lived product with the carbon footprint varying by up to 24% depending on the electricity scenario used. Embodied carbon accounted for 5-12% of the total carbon footprint of New Zealand electricity. The contribution of embodied carbon to the carbon footprint increases over time as more renewable generation infrastructure is constructed. Current methods for calculating the carbon footprint of New Zealand electricity for greenhouse gas reporting purposes exclude embodied carbon and utilise different allocation methods than the one used in this study for cogeneration emissions. This results in a carbon footprint that is 37-39% lower than the life cycle-based results calculated in this study. The carbon footprint of future New Zealand electricity was examined in the context of planetary boundaries. It was found that future scenarios of electricity generation and supply are not compatible with limiting climate change to a 1.5°C increase by 2050 if the electricity sector is considered in isolation. Attributing some of the benefits from electrification of the manufacturing and land transport sectors to the electricity sector can result in a carbon footprint compatible with meeting a 1.5°C climate target based on combined economic and grandfathering sharing principles. Climate targets based on other combinations of sharing principles exceeded a 1.5°C climate target by the early 2020s when 50% of the benefits of electrification of the manufacturing and land transport sectors were attributed to the electricity sector. However, if 100% of the benefits are allocated to the electricity sector, these PBs are exceeded for a period of time (2023-2047) then, the cumulative carbon footprint falls to a level below the PBs from 2048 onwards. Impacts of new electricity generation infrastructure were fully allocated to the year of construction in this research. This is an appropriate approach in the context of an absolute sustainability assessment such as a comparison with a climate change target where the timing of impacts is relevant. However, it may not be appropriate when undertaking a relative assessment comparing two products or services or when assessing short-lived products due to the potential for the results to be influenced by the timing of impacts associated with the construction of generation infrastructure

Avenues of Opportunity: Journeys of Activities through Third Sector Organisations

This chapter discusses a social anthropological research study that considers the place of third sector organisations (TSOs) in society, particularly for those who have been in contact with the criminal justice services. The work is based on insights from journeys through Norway, and to a lesser extent the UK, captured as narratives by a TSO case worker in partnership with other research team members. The insights were drawn from interactions with those along the journey such as ex-prisoners, volunteers, charity worker, members of religious communities and so forth. What these revealed were the many and sometimes hidden universes that exist in and outside TSOs. This chapter offers deep and sometimes different perspectives, asking the reader to consider the range of opportunities TSOs can offer and sets these against concepts of self and other, place, boundary crossing and organisational learning. The work speaks to those seeking to reintegrate into society after prison, their families, significant others, professional practitioners, students, and academics, and although primarily based around Norway, the content resonates internationally

An episomal DNA vector platform for the persistent genetic modification of pluripotent stem cells and their differentiated progeny

The genetic modification of stem cells (SCs) is typically achieved using integrating vectors, whose potential integrative genotoxicity and propensity for epigenetic silencing during differentiation limit their application. The genetic modification of cells should provide sustainable levels of transgene expression, without compromising the viability of a cell or its progeny. We developed nonviral, nonintegrating, and autonomously replicating minimally sized DNA nanovectors to persistently genetically modify SCs and their differentiated progeny without causing any molecular or genetic damage. These DNA vectors are capable of efficiently modifying murine and human pluripotent SCs with minimal impact and without differentiation-mediated transgene silencing or vector loss. We demonstrate that these vectors remain episomal and provide robust and sustained transgene expression during self-renewal and targeted differentiation of SCs both in vitro and in vivo through embryogenesis and differentiation into adult tissues, without damaging their phenotypic characteristics