the logic of objects

The human mind assimilates information and experiences quickly and constantly, and is aided by mental systems that we rely on to function. We classify the input of our lives with extreme efficiency. Our notions about the things we encounter in the world are learned from past experiences, and these expectations help us file the data of our lives. My work is composed to create pause. I am interested in slowing down the processes of assimilation by manipulating our expectations, and extending events measured in microseconds into saturated and engaging experiences. Functional qualities, visual rhythms, and exaggerated proportions are some of the elements I employ in the objects I make to quietly challenge our preconceived notions and our expectations. The importance of genuine utility in my ceramic work is precluded by the desire to borrow a certain quality from the vocabulary usable objects: familiarity. Pottery contains an implied invitation. The intentional placement of openings, lids, and handles in my work conveys the specificity of function, clarifying that the objects I make have an intended purpose. The exact function is less obvious, and a situation is created that pairs a sense of knowing with a sense of mystery. The desire to identify the purpose of an object is an open invitation for continued exploration. Scrutiny and inspection reveal both undulations in edges once considered straight and subtle variations on flat planes. These details act as rewards for a heightened level of engagement. The objects I make exhibit a compositional preference for repetition over variety, and I position repeated elements in regular, metered fashion. This allows the eye to travel predictable paths across my work. A rhythm develops, with a cadence that promotes a rambling exploration of the form. Edges and lines are also measured, and they exhibit a confident, grounded quality that guides visual investigation in a steady and considered way. The mild restlessness of the viewer, caused by their derailed expectations, is placated by regularity. Vessels for containment are, by their own nature, the product of a desire for order. They are tools to categorize our environment, and provide place by defining the spaces they create. The interior spaces in my work are made special by manipulating access to them. Sometimes small lids open into large spaces, other times lids are large enough to require special attention during removal, and some interiors are difficult or impossible to reach. Given these circumstances, the vessels most often contain only a rarefied space. Simply reaching the interior, literally or visually, is an event, a private ritual, that is a self-justifying endeavor. My work displays an attraction to a massing of materials. Industrial architecture and earthen construction are related to the solid volumes in the forms, and the masses I make contribute to an ironic sense of small-scale monumentality. The exaggerated proportions of my work maintain compositional balance through the careful manipulation of a variety of visual elements, including volume and mass and the delicate placement of details. The objects I make appear to be probing their own identity in a subtle and playful way, intentionally undermining their apparent seriousness. Upon investigation, a codified order both mysterious and liberating emerges in the work, and makes it resonate with my intentions. The objects I make are simultaneously an anthropological study and an artistic endeavor, and incorporate an attempt to understand the world we live in, through making. My work has been informed by particular objects, including Japanese Mingei, or folk craft. Not exclusive to that country, but found worldwide, handmade objects have the ability to be fully embedded within the cultures in which they are found, and to reflect the lifestyles and social conditions of the maker. I intend the same level of integration between my work and the society from which it draws. I use surfaces that refer to a variety of sources, and include shiny glazes and polished slips. This use of various treatments helps prolong the assignment of a clear historical lineage to the work. Instead, it can both be rooted in the present and also have a sense of being from elsewhere. By focusing on a rudimentary treatment of the surface, the form of an object I make takes center stage. The composed nature of my work reflects the quiet focus of my investigations. I have a disciplined approach, aimed at augmenting one\u27s engagement with his or her surroundings by creating objects that contain cryptic lessons. I appreciate the idea that the forms I make have a challenging complexity that can be read on multiple levels. When one pauses, then engages in an unspoken conversation with the objects I make, my intentions have been realized. Adviser: Peter Pinnel

Fatally Injured Pedestrians and Bicyclists in the United States with High Blood Alcohol Concentrations

More than one-third of pedestrians and one-fifth of bicyclists killed in crashes in 2014 were impaired by alcohol, but scant attention has been paid to the problem. This omission contrasts starkly with the many successful policies that have reduced impaired driving, a new Institute study notes.The study looked at fatalities of passenger vehicle drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists 16 and older from 1982 to 2014. Using a federal database, IIHS researchers looked at the characteristics of those crashes and trends over time. They found that the percentage of fatally injured pedestrians and bicyclists 16 and older who were impaired has fallen over the decades, but not as dramatically as the percentage of impaired drivers

Solubility of refractory metals and alloys in potassium and in lithium

Solubility of refractory metals and alloys in liquid potassium and lithiu

Texturing of high T(sub c) superconducting polycrystalline fibers/wires by laser-driven directional solidification in an thermal gradient

This paper summarizes the technique of laser-driven directional solidification in a controlled thermal gradient of yttria stabilized zirconia core coated Y-Ba-Cu-O materials to produce textured high T(sub c) superconducting polycrystalline fibers/wires with improved critical current densities in the extended range of magnetic fields at temperatures greater than 77 K. The approach involves laser heating to minimize phase segregation by heating very rapidly through the two-phase incongruent melt region to the single phase melt region and directionally solidifying in a controlled thermal gradient to achieve highly textured grains in the fiber axis direction. The technique offers a higher grain growth rate and a lower thermal budget compared with a conventional thermal gradient and is amenable as a continuous process for improving the J(sub c) of high T(sub c) superconducting polycrystalline fibers/wires. The technique has the advantage of suppressing weak-link behavior by orientation of crystals, formation of dense structures with enhanced connectivity, formation of fewer and cleaner grain boundaries, and minimization of phase segregation in the incongruent melt region

Adequação da infraestrutura, dos equipamentos, das acomodações e das condições ambientais dos laboratórios da Embrapa à norma ABNT NBR ISO/IEC 17.025:2005.

Editores técnicos: Joseani Mesquita Antunes, Ana Lídia Variani Bonato, Márcia Barrocas Moreira Pimentel

Multi-scale magnetic field intermittence in the plasma sheet

This paper demonstrates that intermittent magnetic field fluctuations in the plasma sheet exhibit transitory, localized, and multi-scale features. We propose a multifractal based algorithm, which quantifies intermittence on the basis of the statistical distribution of the 'strength of burstiness', estimated within a sliding window. Interesting multi-scale phenomena observed by the Cluster spacecraft include large scale motion of the current sheet and bursty bulk flow associated turbulence, interpreted as a cross-scale coupling (CSC) process.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure

Superação de dormência de sementes de capim Sudão.

Editores técnicos: Joseani Mesquita Antunes, Ana Lídia Variani Bonato, Márcia Barrocas Moreira Pimentel

Gas-grain models for interstellar anion chemistry

Long-chain hydrocarbon anions CnH- (n=4, 6, 8) have recently been found to be abundant in a variety of interstellar clouds. In order to explain their large abundances in the denser (prestellar/protostellar) environments, new chemical models are constructed that include gas-grain interactions. Models including accretion of gas-phase species onto dust grains and cosmic-ray-induced desorption of atoms are able to reproduce the observed anion-to-neutral ratios, as well as the absolute abundances of anionic and neutral carbon chains, with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Due to their destructive effects, the depletion of oxygen atoms onto dust results in substantially greater polyyne and anion abundances in high-density gas (with n_{H_2} >~ 10^5 cm^{-3}). The large abundances of carbon-chain-bearing species observed in the envelopes of protostars such as L1527 can thus be explained without the need for warm carbon-chain chemistry. The C6H- anion-to-neutral ratio is found to be most sensitive to the atomic O and H abundances and the electron density. Therefore, as a core evolves, falling atomic abundances and rising electron densities are found to result in increasing anion-to-neutral ratios. Inclusion of cosmic-ray desorption of atoms in high-density models delays freeze-out, which results in a more temporally-stable anion-to-neutral ratio, in better agreement with observations. Our models include reactions between oxygen atoms and carbon-chain anions to produce carbon-chain-oxide species C6O, C7O, HC6O and HC7O, the abundances of which depend on the assumed branching ratios for associative electron detachment