Dove of Peace

My ideas of using the iconic readymade are reinterpreted in the 'Dove of Peace', a paper spitfire, when the mundane is exchanged for the spectacle of an icon of the twentieth century, a near legendary aeroplane with many associations which once again plunge the viewer into competing complexities. The spitfire symbolises heroism, individualism and belief, it symbolises self-preservation, fear and the shattering of young lives. The idea of me casting a full size spitfire in paper is on one level a quixotic notion, heightened by the immense number of technical problems it inevitable posed. The challenge is not only the rendering of the ephemeral into the massively durable, but the jolting of the senses into recognition of changed values of waste, worthlessness and the passage of time. It is this juxtaposition of image and material which informs and empowers what we see. It makes us reconsider, re-evaluate and dare to reject complacency. The aesthetic must leave its sheltered accommodation before it is too late, before it atrophies into an exhibit in Fukayama’s museum of history, an object of disinterested contemplation dead to a world we dare not contemplate

Wartime Logistics and the Provisional Government

The print version was published 12 Jan 2023.Peer reviewedPostprin

The radio remnant of SN1993J: an instrumental explanation for the evolving complex structure

We present simulated images of Supernova 1993J at 8.4 GHz using Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) techniques. A spherically symmetric source model is convolved with realistic uv-plane distributions, together with standard imaging procedures, to assess the extent of instrumental effects on the recovered brightness distribution. In order to facilitate direct comparisons between the simulations and published VLBI images of SN1993J, the observed uv-coverage is determined from actual VLBI observations made in the years following its discovery. The underlying source model only exhibits radial variation in its density profile, with no azimuthal dependence and, even though this model is morphologically simple, the simulated VLBI observations qualitatively reproduce many of the azimuthal features of the reported VLBI observations, such as appearance and evolution of complex azimuthal structure and apparent rotation of the shell. We demonstrate that such features are inexorably coupled to the uv-plane sampling. The brightness contrast between the peaks and the surrounding shell material are not as prominent in the simulations (which of course assume no antenna- or baseline-based amplitude or phase errors, meaning no self-calibration procedures will have incorporated any such features in models). It is conclusive that incomplete uv-plane sampling has a drastic effect on the final images for observations of this nature. Difference imaging reveals residual emission up to the 8 sigma level. Extreme care should be taken when using interferometric observations to directly infer the structure of objects such as supernovae.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

Table of Unification

The project was to make a table sculpture using recycled timber collected from neighbouring Middle East and European countries to symbolically bring together many nations. The invitation to take part in the European Capital of Culture started in 2013, and the planning and logistics for the project took place over 2013-16. This included working closely with various communities across the island and forming strong links to gain access to the northern occupied territories with the United Nations and British Embassy. The European Capital of Culture team put out a request across the region through the embassies for donations of recycled timbers, and this provided the project with many timbers of different sizes and shapes, many of which carried messages of goodwill which we had requested. The most challenging request was to gain access to derelict houses now in the occupied territories on the green line, which had been lying in a derelict state for nearly 40 years since the invasion of Turkish troops in 1974. We needed to collect upwards of 5000kg of timbers as the sculpture was to be over 4 m diameter and 0.9 m tall. After several visits to Cyprus and many hours collecting and collating timbers we managed to pull together all of the donated and collected timbers at the Cyprus Technical College, Pafos, who had very kindly offered their premises and resource to support the project. This included machinery, manpower and heavy duty tools. We also had the good fortune to have the support of highly skilled staff who kindly gave their time for the project. The manufacture of the work took place in late 2016 over a month long period when ‘all hands on deck’ enabled us to complete the work and have it placed at the European Capital of Culture HQ until its installation into the ancient and newly refurbished market place at the Ibrahim Khan. This ancient market place has been at the crossroads of many nations' travellers for generations and reputedly was the place where soldiers stayed on their trip to the crusades as well as traders bound for the far east along the silk road into China. The ECC Pafos has had a significant amount of redevelopment: 35 million euros over the period and this included the redeveloped Khan. The install took place in October 2017 and the Khan, including the table of unification, has now been nominated for the European culture prize 2018

Drive thru

The Drive Thru group show brought together more than 50 artists in an exhibition at the lowest level of the Q Park underground car park in Cavendish Square, central London. The work exhibited encompasses sculptures, photographs, film, painting, ephemeral works, live performances, happenings, staged works, installations, synchronised car radio transmissions and sound works. I was invited to exhibit seven works all of which are on the theme of 'acid rain', some of the works have also been shown in Eurasia Biannale and Taiwan Biennale 2016 as well as Hazart Foundation Netherlands 2015

Evaluating food safety management systems in Singapore: A controlled interrupted time-series analysis of foodborne disease outbreak reports

Food catering service establishments are often implicated in foodborne disease outbreaks. We evaluated the effects of implementing Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) in food catering service establishments in Singapore on two outcome measures: foodborne disease outbreaks and food hygiene violations. Using a controlled interrupted time-series study design, we estimated the change in the average level of these outcome measures following implementation, and compared the pre- and post-intervention trends. There were 42 foodborne disease outbreaks and 521 food hygiene violations associated with catering service establishments from 2012 to 2018. Eighteen months after FSMS implementation, we observed a 78.4% decrease (IRR: 0.216, 95% CI: 0.050 to 0.940, p=0.041) in the average level of foodborne outbreaks in food catering service establishments. There was no significant effect on reported hygiene violations. Our study suggests that the FSMS implementation was successful in reducing foodborne outbreaks

The impact of experiences of ageism on sexual activity and interest in later life

Experiences of ageism are associated with poorer health outcomes. Sexual activity and interest are areas in life where the impact of ageism may also be evident as popular culture often depicts the older body as asexual, undesirable or sexually impotent. We explore the possible links between experiences of ageism and sexual activity/interest in later life using data from a study of Australians aged 60+. We explored characteristics of those who were more likely to have experienced ageism (measured using the Ageism survey) and the relationships between experiences of ageism and measures of sexual interest/activity in later life (n=1,817). Experiences of ageism were greater among those without a partner, unemployed participants, those with lower incomes, and poorer self-rated health. Adjusting for these differences, experiences of ageism were more likely to be reported by those who had not had sex in the past two years and were not sure about their hopes/plans for sex in the future. Those who reported their sexual interest had increased or decreased since 60 also reported greater levels of ageism experience, as did those who wanted to have sex more frequently in the future. Ageism appears to impact sexual activity and interest in different ways. It is critical that social policy aims to reverse attitudes that reinforce the view of the ageist asexual and unattractive older body or person

University for the Creative Arts staff research 2011

This publication brings together a selection of the University’s current research. The contributions foreground areas of research strength including still and moving image research, applied arts and crafts, as well as emerging fields of investigations such as design and architecture. It also maps thematic concerns across disciplinary areas that focus on models and processes of creative practice, value formations and processes of identification through art and artefacts as well as cross-cultural connectivity. Dr. Seymour Roworth-Stoke

Heterodyne mixing of millimetre electromagnetic waves and sub-THz sound in a semiconductor device

We demonstrate heterodyne mixing of a 94 GHz millimetre wave photonic signal, supplied by a Gunn diode oscillator, with coherent acoustic waves of frequency ~ 100 GHz, generated by pulsed laser excitation of a semiconductor surface. The mixing takes place in a millimetre wave Schottky diode, and the intermediate frequency electrical signal is in the 1 – 12 GHz range. The mixing process preserves all the spectral content in the acoustic signal that falls within the intermediate frequency bandwidth. Therefore this technique may find application in high-frequency acoustic spectroscopy measurements, exploiting the nanometre wavelength of sub-THz sound. The result also points the way to exploiting acoustoelectric effects in photonic devices working at sub-THz and THz frequencies, which could provide functionalities at these frequencies, e.g. acoustic wave filtering, that are currently in widespread use at lower (GHz) frequencies