Pile- Exhibition curated by Craig Fisher

This enquiry extends previous investigations exploring the relation between pattern, decoration and formalist abstraction, addressing painting’s capacity to establish a ‘visual pulse’, enabling a re-interpretation of both a previous painting and a body of new paintings/drawings. The work was selected for a comprehensive sculpture exhibition that questions the conventions of group exhibitions. Ways in which painting’s autonomy is examined through display and proximity to the work of others are explored. Mother in Law’s Tongue, a three-panelled painting on domestic door blanks, connected floor and wall – both siting and object/image address the boundary between painting and sculpture. The hierarchy of fine art over decorative arts is challenged: the painting used as a device on which to hang the work of another artist, risking that the work might be seen as a decorative prop. Previous research using repetition and difference as a means to invoke a visual pulse in painting was re-visited in a new body of paintings on paper, continuing investigations of relations between internal mark-making, in relation to frame, size and scale, and parameters of substrate. The project restricts colour to its constitute subtractive primaries (magenta, yellow, and cyan), which then enables the exploration of a set of permutations and combinations. The resulting paintings are constructed through a repetitive process, engaging the viewer in the rhythm and craft of production, producing a hypnotic quality, making the work seem more ‘alive’ than the methodical nature of production might suggest. The slippage between systematic abstraction and pattern suggests an in-between space, uncertain and open to interpretation. Earlier stages of this research include: a group exhibition Trick of Light, Primo Alonso Gallery, London, 2010, curated by Juan Bolivar; and two chapbooks in the series Transmission Hospitality (London: Artwords, 2010, 2011) – from the second, a visual and textual dialogue with the artist Jane Harris, the saturated works above developed

Income, Value and Returns in Socially Responsible Office Properties

This paper compares alternative methods for taking spatial dependence into account in house price prediction. We select hedonic methods that have been reported in the literature to perform relatively well in terms of ex-sample prediction accuracy. Because differences in performance may be due to differences in data, we compare the methods using a single data set. The estimation methods include simple OLS, a two-stage process incorporating nearest neighbors’ residuals in the second stage, geostatistical, and trend surface models. These models take into account submarkets by adding dummy variables or by estimating separate equations for each submarket. Based on data for approximately 13,000 transactions from Louisville, Kentucky, we conclude that a geostatistical model with disaggregated submarket variables performs best.

A qualitative study of motivation to read for pleasure with adolescent struggling readers using a theoretical model : how to begin?

A mixed method study explored a theoretical model that employed, combined, and added to the theories of self-determination, the reading engagement perspective, and the four-phase model of interest to motivate adolescent struggling readers to read for pleasure. The model adds to the existing body of research because it specifies an instructional starting point focusing on the powerful intrinsic motivation to read constructs of curiosity, involvement, and interest. Three teachers at different schools implemented the model with 18 students. The results and implementation varied with each teacher. Initially, students responded with an increased motivation to read for pleasure. From there, success varied with the remaining phases. Teachers had limited success with the second phase of the four-phase model of interest development. One teacher aptly maintained interest, one was unsuccessful, and the last teacher maintained interest with motivated students and led the others to more titles. All encountered difficulties when motivation to read waned. All teachers also encountered obstacles and implemented methods to restart pleasure reading. Two teachers had limited knowledge of young adult literature which affected motivation to read for pleasure. Throughout the study positive social interaction patterns positively affected students’ motivations to read

Kindness is the parent of kindness: reciprocity in the UK call centre workplace

This research developed, proposed and tested an integrated psychological process to performance model. The model utilized the overarching theory of social exchange to incorporate the climate perceptions and affective reactions of 3,012 employees across 88 UK call centres. In the pursuit of parsimony, a review of the applied psychology literature gave rise to a model where the path between global service climate and contextual performance was fully mediated by, first, perceived organizational support, second, job satisfaction and third, affective commitment. The resulting integrated and parsimonious model was tested via SEM and the mediation hypotheses were tested via a series of nested competing models. A moderate fit and partial, rather than full, mediation were reported. Nested Competing Model 4 proved to be the most parsimonious and to have the best fit. It is important to recognise, however, that Nested Competing Model 4 is not intended to be the most comprehensive model (which would include all significant paths), but a more practically useful one (i.e. parsimonious), that focuses on the main relationships

Molecular mechanisms of retinoid actions in skin

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154473/1/fsb2010009001.pd

Ultraviolet irradiation represses TGF ‐β type II receptor transcription through a 38‐bp sequence in the proximal promoter in human skin fibroblasts

Transforming growth factor‐β ( TGF ‐β) is a major regulator of collagen gene expression in human skin fibroblasts. Cellular responses to TGF ‐β are mediated primarily through its cell surface type I (TβRI) and type II (TβRII) receptors. Ultraviolet ( UV ) irradiation impairs TGF ‐β signalling largely due to reduced TβRII gene expression, thereby decreasing type I procollagen synthesis, in human skin fibroblasts. UV irradiation does not alter either TβRII m RNA or protein stability, indicating that UV reduction in TβRII expression likely results from transcriptional or translational repression. To understand how UV irradiation regulates TβRII transcription, we used a series of TβRII promoter‐luciferase 5′‐deletion constructs (covering 2 kb of the TβRII proximal promoter) to determine transcriptional rate in response to UV irradiation. We identified a 137‐bp region upstream of the transcriptional start site that exhibited high promoter activity and was repressed 60% by UV irradiation, whereas all other TβRII promoter reporter constructs exhibited either low promoter activities or no regulation by UV irradiation. Mutation of potential transcription factor binding sites within the promoter region revealed that an inverted CCAAT box (−81 bp from transcription start site) is required for promoter activity. Mutation of the CCAAT box completely abolished UV irradiation regulation of the TβRII promoter. Protein‐binding assay, as determined by electrophoretic mobility‐shift assays (EMSAs) using the inverted CCAAT box as probe (−100/−62), demonstrated significantly enhanced protein binding in response to UV irradiation. Super shift experiments indicated that nuclear factor Y ( NFY ) is able to binding to this sequence, but NFY binding was not altered in response to UV irradiation, indicating additional protein(s) are capable of binding this sequence in response to UV irradiation. Taken together, these data indicate that UV irradiation reduces TβRII expression, at least partially, through transcriptional repression. This repression is mediated by a 38‐bp sequence in TβRII promoter, in human skin fibroblasts.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108702/1/exd12389.pd

Vortex Fluctuations in the Critical Casimir Effect of Superfluid and Superconducting Films

Vortex-loop renormalization techniques are used to calculate the magnitude of the critical Casimir forces in superfluid films. The force is found to become appreciable when size of the thermal vortex loops is comparable to the film thickness, and the results for T < Tc are found to match very well with perturbative renormalization theories that have only been carried out for T > Tc. When applied to a high-Tc superconducting film connected to a bulk sample, the Casimir force causes a voltage difference to appear between the film and bulk, and estimates show that this may be readily measurable.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, Revtex 4, typo correctio