Mission-driven arts organisations and initiatives: suriving and thriving locally in a time of rupture

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how mission-driven arts organisations respond to the complex set of economic and social conditions that the authors here term as a significant point of rupture. Drawing on the papers that form a part of the special section of this issue, the authors critically examine how the intersection of globalisation and neoliberalism creates multidimensional uncertainty that shapes the opportunities, responsibilities, work arrangements, and lived experiences of artists and artist-led initiatives and organisations. Design/methodology/approach In this introduction to the symposium on mission-driven arts organisations and initiatives, the authors explore how the included articles question and introduce key concerns that govern, limit and support mission-driven arts organisations. Findings Drawing on the papers in this set, the authors note that mission-driven arts organisations are diverse and employ numerous organising forms. However, at their core is the pursuit of social objectives, which also requires the management of often conflicting artistic, economic, cultural and social demands. The authors explicate how mission-driven arts organisations respond to local agendas and work best at the community level. As such, they may not play a key role in tourism or large-scale cultural regeneration of spaces, but rather seek to make creative use of sunken and redundant, often inner city spaces to address local needs. Yet, the uncertainty that these organisations face shapes temporary solutions that may enhance the precariaty and pressures for artists and creative producers with likely impact on wellbeing. Originality/value This paper brings together original insights into how mission-drive organisations seek to overcome and indeed flourish in a time of rupture. It moves beyond the notion of cultural regeneration as an instrument of tourism, and tourism as a focus of regeneration, to consider the value such organisations bring to localities evidenced in both creative practices and as local cultural engagement beyond economic impact. In doing so, mission-driven arts organisations play a vital role in a time of rapid change

A computerized Langmuir probe system

For low pressure plasmas it is important to record entire single or double Langmuir probe characteristics accurately. For plasmas with a depleted high energy tail, the accuracy of the recorded ion current plays a critical role in determining the electron temperature. Even for high density Maxwellian distributions, it is necessary to accurately model the ion current to obtain the correct electron density. Since the electron and ion current saturation values are, at best, orders of magnitude apart, a single current sensing resistor cannot provide the required resolution to accurately record these values. We present an automated, personal computer based data acquisition system for the determination of fundamental plasma properties in low pressure plasmas. The system is designed for single and double Langmuir probes, whose characteristics can be recorded over a bias voltage range of ±70 V with 12 bit resolution. The current flowing through the probes can be recorded within the range of 5 nA–100 mA. The use of a transimpedance amplifier for current sensing eliminates the requirement for traditional current sensing resistors and hence the need to correct the raw data. The large current recording range is realized through the use of a real time gain switching system in the negative feedback loop of the transimpedance amplifier

Spatial Resolution of a Micromegas-TPC Using the Charge Dispersion Signal

The Time Projection Chamber (TPC) for the International Linear Collider will need to measure about 200 track points with a resolution close to 100 $\mu$m. A Micro Pattern Gas Detector (MPGD) readout TPC could achieve the desired resolution with existing techniques using sub-millimeter width pads at the expense of a large increase in the detector cost and complexity. We have recently applied a new MPGD readout concept of charge dispersion to a prototype GEM-TPC and demonstrated the feasibility of achieving good resolution with pads similar in width to the ones used for the proportional wire TPC. The charge dispersion studies were repeated with a Micromegas TPC amplification stage. We present here our first results on the Micromegas-TPC resolution with charge dispersion. The TPC resolution with the Micromegas readout is compared to our earlier GEM results and to the resolution expected from electron statistics and transverse diffusion in a gaseous TPC.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures, to appar in the Proceedings of the 2005 International Linear Collider Workshop (LCWS05), Stanford, 18-22 March 200

Axial-vector meson mixing in orthocharmonium decays

The new BES measurement on the two-body decays of J/psi and psi' into an axial-vector meson and a pseudoscalar meson is analyzed with the axial-K mixing including the one-photon annihilation contribution. A somewhat puzzling pattern of the K_1^+ K^- decay channels can be understood with no tight constraint on the mixing angle. The branching fractions of the K_1^0 K-bar^0 channels will be the cleanest source of information to determine the mixing angle from the 1^+ 0^- decays of J/psi and psi'.Comment: 14 pages with 4 eps figure

SURVEY OF THE DEPENDENCE ON TEMPERATURE OF THE COERCIVITY OF GARNET-FILMS

The temperature dependence of the domain-wall coercive field of epitaxial magnetic garnets films has been investigated in the entire temperature range of the ferrimagnetic phase, and has been found to be described by a set of parametric exponents. In subsequent temperature regions different slopes were observed, with breaking points whose position was found to be sample dependent. A survey ba.ed on literature Data as well as on a large number of our own samples shows the general existence of this piecewise exponential dependence and the presence of the breaking points. This type of domain-wall coercive field temperature dependence was found in all samples in the large family of the epitaxial garnets (about 30 specimens of more than ten chemical compositionsj and also in another strongly anisotropic material (TbFeCo)

Comparative Ultrastructure Of Digestive Diverticulae In Bathymodiolin Mussels: Discovery Of An Unknown Spherical Inclusion (Six) In Digestive Cells Of A Seep Mussel

Mussels in the genus Bathymodiolus host endosymbiotic bacteria in their gills, from which the mussel derives much of its nutrition. Bathymodiolin mussels also have functional digestive systems and, as in shallow-water mytilid mussels, cells of the digestive diverticulae are of two types: basophilic secretory cells and columnar digestive cells. Cellular contents of secretory and digestive cells of Bathymodiolus thermophilus and Bathymodiolus brevior from deep-sea hydrothermal vents are comparable to cellular contents of these cell types observed in shallow-water mytilids. In the seep mussel Bathymodiolus heckerae, cellular contents of columnar cells were anomalous, being dominated by an unknown cellular inclusion herein called spherical inclusion unknown or SIX. SIX was observed in all digestive cells and some basophilic cells of B. heckerae examined with TEM. It is a large (2-10-mu m diameter) and abundant (7 +/- 1.5 inclusions per epithelial cell section) inclusion, with a double external membrane and stacked internal lamellae. No microbial DNA was detected in digestive tubules of B. heckerae using molecular probes, preferential DNA amplification techniques, or DAPI staining, suggesting that SIX is not a unicellular parasite or symbiont. The ubiquity and abundance of SIX within cells of the digestive diverticula suggest that it has an important cellular function (positive or negative), yet to be determined

A novel route for volume manufacturing of hollow braided composite beam structures

This work investigates the application of a rapid variothermal moulding process for direct processing of a braided thermoplastic commingled yarn. The process uses locally controllable, responsive tooling which provides opportunities for optimum part quality and significantly reduced cycle times compared with conventional processes. The proposed process was used to directly manufacture hollow beam structures from dry commingled braided preforms. It was demonstrated that the cycle time using the rapid process was reduced by more than 90% as compared to a conventional bladder moulding process, resulting in a total cycle time of 14 min. Additionally, initial three point flexure test results indicated an improvement in the mechanical performance of the resultant parts as compared to the benchmark