THINGS SEEN

The present exhibition has been organized to focus attention on one of the most flourishing aspects of contemporary American painting, the revival of representational art in the traditional formats of the landscape, the figure and the still life. For the past ten years it has become evident that more and more artists are having second thoughts about the abstract style which had come to dominate the artistic scene within the several previous decades. There are instances of renunciation, a sudden yet deliberate turning away from abstraction toward some form of traditional representation. There are also numerous instances of artists beginning their professional efforts with a very conscious demonstration of allegiance to the figurative tradition against which their predecessors rebelled. Today, one of the principal problems in the organization of this exhibition is to accommodate the breadth and variety of this new involvement with realism. Several considerations were operative in the final selection. First of all, it is of considerable interest to note that, far from being a mere revival of past concerns, the contemporary realist has a very different eye, an eye that has been profoundly affected by the abstract experience of half a century; but an eye that views today\u27s experience with insights that are peculiarly representative of today. To underline this difference and, at the same time, to demonstrate the fact that today\u27s realism is indeed no revival but part of a continuity, we have attempted to suggest something of the history of the realist point of view since the turn of the century. There is ample evidence in the work of some of the younger painters that they are seeing for the first time the work of such American realists as Thomas Eakins and Edward Hopper, to say nothing of such European realists as Ingres and Courbet. Other considerations, each of them affecting the final selection, have to do with the varying definition of realism, reality and the real. This is a semantic jungle, the density of which scarcely permits an exhaustive demonstration in an exhibition of fifty paintings, but one qualification is necessary to answer those who will look at the exhibition with artists in mind who are not included, all of whom are intrinsically realists: Ivan Albright, Paul Cadmus, Alice Neel, Fairfield Porter, and, among the younger generation, Jack Beal, Alfred Leslie, Neil Welliver, to name only a few. Theirs is a realistic point of view but their method as painters is dominated by an attitudinal bias in some and, in others, by a painterly emphasis on light, color or texture which precludes dispassionate observation. For this occasion we have limited the operative definition of realism to an objective and precise observation of experience. The title of the exhibition has been chosen to contain as succinctly as possible the essence of the idea represented in the paintings. It suggests that one of the simplest and most direct approaches to reality is through a fundamental acceptance of the evidence provided in the act of seeing. To see simply and fully, without undue emotion or reflection requires an exercise of intelligence that puts a considerable demand on the artist who chooses to record this experience as well as on the viewer who looks at the finished work. Such an experience of seeing is more ideal than commonplace, and in the exhibition it is demonstrated in fifty varying forms

A Beginner\u27s Guide to Research Using Electronic Health Record Data

Since the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, the use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in the healthcare system has increased substantially. Accompanying this surge in EHR usage is a surge in healthcare data and increased opportunities to improve our understanding of health care through research using these data. The use of EHR data for research has many benefits, limitations and considerations. Using data that was originally intended to facilitate billing, insurance, and maintenance of clinical records for research can be fraught with challenges, but they can also be a rich source of information. This paper addresses some of these benefits and challenges, along with additional considerations, including ensuring the best quality data, selecting a good study design, tailoring research questions and queries to available data, and understanding ethical issues in using patient data for research. Researchers should develop a clear understanding of the pitfalls inherent in EHR research before beginning a project. As is the case with most research, many of the drawbacks can be reduced with careful preparation, formulation of a research question, procedures and data management

Contemporary Handweaving IV

A note of introduction CONTEMPORARY HAND WEAVING IV departs from the pattern established in its predecessors in being invitational rather than competitive in format. It concentrates on the work of ten of the nation\u27s best artists in the medium and shows each in a group of examples, This change was dictated in part by local circumstances but it was also motivated by the wish to assume a somewhat different point of view with regard to the present status of the craft of hand weaving in the United States. Our previous exhibitions have demonstrated that the art o[ hand weaving has its skilled practitioners everywhere and that there arc many unknown craftsmen who are achieving work of a notably high order. However, in these exhibitions we have had little or no contact with the ranking professionals in the art, for, as is usually the case, these artists have so many demises on their production that competitions such as ours cannot claim their attention. In the present exhibition we have chosen to combine the work of several of the weavers who have distinguished themselves in the earlier shows with the work of a number of the outstanding weavers who have not previously exhibited here. The result, we hope, will be gratifying to all who see it. As in most areas of contemporary American art there is a considerable range o[ style in this exhibition from the traditional to the avowedly experimental. It is in this last category that the visitor will find the challenge which may make his visit memorable. Here he will find a parallel to the attempts of the potter to attain the independent plasticity of sculpture, the attempts of the print maker to attain the textural atmosphere of painting, the attempts of the painter to be three-dimensional, or no-dimensional, the attempts oi the sculptor to encompass a total environment. In these instances of experiment the concepts of materials, technique, and use are pushed toward new definitions, possibly incompatible with previous understanding but certainly full of the excitement of fresh thinking

The Art of Printmaking: Part 4. American Prints from the Eighteenth Century to the Present

PEALE, CHARLES WILSONPELHAM, PETERSAVAGE, EDWARDCASSATT, MARYCATLIN, GEORGEDUVENECK, FRANKHOMER, WINSLOWHUNT, WILLIAM MORRISWHISTLER, JAMES McNEILWEIR, J. ALDENBELLOWS, GEORGE W.CORNELL, THOMASCRAWFORD, RALSTONFEININGER, LYONELHASSAM, CHILDEHOPPER, EDWARDJONES, JOHN PAULKUNIYOSHI, YASUOLANDECK, ARMINLASANSKY, MAURICIOSISTER MARY CORITA, I.H.M.McGARRELL, JAMESOROZCO, JOSE CLEMENTEPEARSON, HENRYPETERDI, GABORPONCE DE LEON, MICHAELPOSADA, JOSE GUADALUPESLOAN, JOHNSUMMERS, CAROLWALD, SYLVI

Why Do Computers Depreciate?

The value of installed computers falls rapidly and therefore computers have a very high user cost. The paper provides a complete account of the non-financial user cost of personal computers -- decomposing it into replacement cost change, obsolescence, instantaneous depreciation, and age-related depreciation. The paper uses data on the resale price of computers and a hedonic price index for new computers to achieve this decomposition. Once obsolescence is taken into account, age-related depreciation -- which is often identified as deterioration -- is estimated to be negligible. While the majority of the loss in value of used computers comes from declines in replacement cost, this paper shows the second most important source of decline in value is obsolescence. Obsolescence is accelerated by the decline in replacement cost of computers. Cheaper computing power drives developments in software and networks that make older computers less productive even though their original functionality remains intact.

A ROSAT Survey of Contact Binary Stars

Contact binary stars are common variable stars which are all believed to emit relatively large fluxes of x-rays. In this work we combine a large new sample of contact binary stars derived from the ROTSE-I telescope with x-ray data from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) to estimate the x-ray volume emissivity of contact binary stars in the galaxy. We obtained x-ray fluxes for 140 contact binaries from the RASS, as well as 2 additional stars observed by the XMM-Newton observatory. From these data we confirm the emission of x-rays from all contact binary systems, with typical luminosities of approximately 1.0 x 10^30 erg s^-1. Combining calculated luminosities with an estimated contact binary space density, we find that contact binaries do not have strong enough x-ray emission to account for a significant portion of the galactic x-ray background.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, accepted by A

Ronald Slowinski

This exhibition is the result of a visit to the studio of Ron Slowinski in 1981. Such a visit is the surest test of one\u27s reaction to the artist\u27s work seen on previous occasions only in isolated examples. Such partial contacts are frequently inconclusive, but in the instance of Slowinski the impression made was sufficient to create an appetite for more. The several hours spent looking at the accumulated work of four or five years was exciting to say the least and impressive to the degree that I came away from the experience convinced that here was an artist who could and should be seen in the demanding context of a large exhibition. Fortunately I made this visit in the company of Doriald Doe whose enthusiasm for what we had seen matched my own and, fortunately as well, he is eminently qualified to enter into the critical dialogue with the artist which is the necessary context for the organization of such an exhibition. The result is, in every respect, the confirmation of our original impression. Here is an artist whose commitment to the business of art is total, an artist whose activity in our midst establishes a qualitative standard of a high order. The exhibition in itself represents the Sheldon Gallery\u27s commitment to the critical appraisal and endorsement of the best work being done in our region, which is part of the best from anywhere

Signatures of topological branched covers

Let $X^4$ and $Y^4$ be smooth manifolds and $f: X\to Y$ a branched cover with branching set $B$. Classically, if $B$ is smoothly embedded in $Y$, the signature $\sigma(X)$ can be computed from data about $Y$, $B$ and the local degrees of $f$. When $f$ is an irregular dihedral cover and $B\subset Y$ smoothly embedded away from a cone singularity whose link is $K$, the second author gave a formula for the contribution $\Xi(K)$ to $\sigma(X)$ resulting from the non-smooth point. We extend the above results to the case where $Y$ is a {\it topological} four-manifold and $B$ is locally flat, away from the possible singularity. Owing to the presence of non-locally-flat points on $B$, $X$ in this setting is a stratified pseudomanifold, and we use the Intersection Homology signature of $X$, $\sigma_{IH}(X)$. For any knot $K$ whose determinant is not $\pm 1$, a homotopy ribbon obstruction is derived from $\Xi(K)$, providing a new technique to potentially detect slice knots that are not ribbon