ALTERATIONS

My work is an investigation into the physical and cognitive spaces that painting occupies as both image and object. By transplanting fragments of mechanical and digital reproductions into formal and conceptual participation, I seek to disrupt the significations of culturally accepted iconography and probe the locations of acceptance they normally inhabit. I employ strategies of manipulation, framing, and juxtaposition to visually suggest the presence of the original object through the parameters of the reproduced composite and implicate the presence of the institution by incorporating the gallery wall directly into a number of my compositions. By utilizing imagery from the art historical domain and redeploying it in the manner of a quotation out of context, I suggest to the viewer an awareness of the many lenses of cultural criteria that are used to evaluate, appreciate, and understand these images and other works of art. While either directly using or evoking the historical image as a point of departure for this dialogue, this work contributes to an understanding or awareness of our location in the present by considering both the physical and virtual divisions that constitute our contemporaneous understanding of the past. These strategies speak to the difficulties of interpreting the original through the language of the reproduction, the fallibility of this system, and its frequently absurd outcomes. The purpose of this document is to: I.) Introduce and outline the biographical information used to formulate the conceptual procedure of the work, II.) Explicate the characteristics of the reproduction and its manifestation through the mechanisms of the work, III.) Signify the importance of the contemporary institution in our understanding of how images operate culturally, and IV.) Explain the historical and contemporary discourses that inform the work

Controllability, Observability, Realizability, and Stability of Dynamic Linear Systems

We develop a linear systems theory that coincides with the existing theories for continuous and discrete dynamical systems, but that also extends to linear systems defined on nonuniform time domains. The approach here is based on generalized Laplace transform methods (e.g. shifts and convolution) from our recent work \cite{DaGrJaMaRa}. We study controllability in terms of the controllability Gramian and various rank conditions (including Kalman's) in both the time invariant and time varying settings and compare the results. We also explore observability in terms of both Gramian and rank conditions as well as realizability results. We conclude by applying this systems theory to connect exponential and BIBO stability problems in this general setting. Numerous examples are included to show the utility of these results.Comment: typos corrected; current form is as accepted in EJD

Finding Minimum-Power Broadcast Trees for Wireless Networks

Some algorithms have been devised for use in a method of constructing tree graphs that represent connections among the nodes of a wireless communication network. These algorithms provide for determining the viability of any given candidate connection tree and for generating an initial set of viable trees that can be used in any of a variety of search algorithms (e.g., a genetic algorithm) to find a tree that enables the network to broadcast from a source node to all other nodes while consuming the minimum amount of total power. The method yields solutions better than those of a prior algorithm known as the broadcast incremental power algorithm, albeit at a slightly greater computational cost

Simplicial quantum dynamics

Present-day quantum field theory can be regularized by a decomposition into quantum simplices. This replaces the infinite-dimensional Hilbert space by a high-dimensional spinor space and singular canonical Lie groups by regular spin groups. It radically changes the uncertainty principle for small distances. Gaugeons, including the gravitational, are represented as bound fermion-pairs, and space-time curvature as a singular organized limit of quantum non-commutativity. Keywords: Quantum logic, quantum set theory, quantum gravity, quantum topology, simplicial quantization.Comment: 25 pages. 1 table. Conference of the International Association for Relativistic Dynamics, Taiwan, 201

Evidence for Impaired CARD15 Signalling in Crohn's Disease without Disease Linked Variants

BACKGROUND:Sensing of muramyl dipeptide (MDP) is impaired in Crohn's disease (CD) patients with disease-linked variants of the CARD15 (caspase activation and recruitment domain 15) gene. Animal studies suggest that normal CARD15 signalling prevents inflammatory bowel disease, and may be important for disease development in CD. However, only a small fraction of CD patients carry the disease linked CARD15 variants. The aim of this study was thus to investigate if changes could be found in CARD15 signalling in patients without disease associated CARD15 variants. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:By mapping the response to MDP in peripheral monocytes obtained from CD patients in remission not receiving immunosuppresives, an impaired response to MDP was found in patients without disease linked CARD15 variants compared to control monocytes. This impairment was accompanied by a decreased activation of IkappaB kinase alpha/beta (IKKalpha/beta), the initial step in the nuclear factor kappaB (NFkappaB) pathway, whereas activation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP)-kinases was unaffected. MDP additionally stimulates the inflammasome which is of importance for processing of cytokines. The inflammasome was constitutively activated in CD, but unresponsive to MDP both in CD and control monocytes. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:These results suggest that inhibited MDP-dependent pathways in CD patients not carrying the disease-associated CARD15 variants might be of importance for the pathogenesis of CD. The results reveal a dysfunctional immune response in CD patients, not able to sense relevant stimuli on the one hand, and on the other hand possessing constitutively active cytokine processing