The inherently self-destructive nature of Socialist Realism

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 28).From the years 1932 - 1987, the Soviet Union imposed the artistic style of Socialist Realism upon its artists. Paintings of this era have little to show of the dynamics of Russian art until they are analyzed in terms of the social and political forces that dominated the style's creation. Looking at its origins, we see Socialist Realism born of a struggle between realist and avant-garde artists. This struggle first saw the avant-garde establish a near monopoly on state commissions and then lose its position as a result of realist complaints and party intervention. It is this realist-supported intervention that instituted the restrictions on form that became the foundation for Socialist Realism and came to signify 50 years of formal restrictions. These restrictions resulted in the alienation of artists beginning with the avant-garde and moving to encompass a majority of artists. By 1946, the effects of this alienation were so great that it produced an artistic theory entitled The Theory of Conflictlessness. Here artists produced work they knew would not cause any question as to whether they were following Socialist Realist principles. It was not until after the death of Stalin that artists began a significant push to remove their restraints. Their accomplishments were few and far between however, until the Brezhnev era when conflict with artists was kept to a minimum. Artists, even with these reductions in party intervention, continued to fear for their safety and limited the extent of their work. Only after the policies of glasnost and perestroika were artists able to strongly assert themselves and bring an end to their repression. Socialist Realism, as such, must be seen in terms of the social and political forces that dominated its very existence. For without party intervention, Socialist Realism would not have been the form that has become synonymous with Soviet art

Update: Advancement of Contact Dynamics Modeling for Human Spaceflight Simulation Applications

Pong is a new software tool developed at the NASA Johnson Space Center that advances interference-based geometric contact dynamics based on 3D graphics models. The Pong software consists of three parts: a set of scripts to extract geometric data from 3D graphics models, a contact dynamics engine that provides collision detection and force calculations based on the extracted geometric data, and a set of scripts for visualizing the dynamics response with the 3D graphics models. The contact dynamics engine can be linked with an external multibody dynamics engine to provide an integrated multibody contact dynamics simulation. This paper provides a detailed overview of Pong including the overall approach and modeling capabilities, which encompasses force generation from contact primitives and friction to computational performance. Two specific Pong-based examples of International Space Station applications are discussed, and the related verification and validation using this new tool are also addressed

Low speed crack propagation via kink formation and advance on the silicon (110) cleavage plane

We present density functional theory based atomistic calculations predicting that slow fracturing of silicon is possible at any chosen crack propagation speed under suitable temperature and load conditions. We also present experiments demonstrating fracture propagation on the Si(110) cleavage plane in the ~100 m/s speed range, consistent with our predictions. These results suggest that many other brittle crystals could be broken arbitrarily slowly in controlled experiments

Shattered windows: The story of Genora Johnson Dollinger, Eva Stone, and the women of Michigan

The thesis, Shattered Windows, explores the significant roles of Genora Johnson Dollinger and Eva Stone in Michigan’s labor movements during the 1930s. It focuses on Dollinger’s leadership in the Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1936-37, where she mobilized women to join the picket lines, culminating in the formation of the Women’s Emergency Brigade. Her influence extended beyond Flint, inspiring women across Michigan to challenge corporate power and defend workers’ rights. Following Dollinger’s example, Eva Stone led protests against rising meat prices, further uniting women in economic activism. This work examines the unique contributions of these women, situating their efforts within a broader labor history and highlighting their lasting impact on labor rights and women’s activism. Utilizing primary sources and archival material, the thesis argues that these women’s efforts laid critical groundwork for the continued fight for economic justice in Michigan and beyond

Empire State Plaza

De Arce constructed a system--an experiment--that could be applied to the Corbusian city to elicit new meaning from the set pieces. The process of additive transformation allowed the existing monuments to become engaged in a new conversation with their context. The superimposed fabric--‘urban poche’-- created a uniform vertical surface, or datum, against which to read the set pieces. Thus, the city of street and square was educed as fabric and figure were once again allowed to mutually reinforce one another. Public space, understood as the place of confrontation and discussion, has arguably been devalued in the contemporary city. The ancient city was sustained by public space, both physically and culturally. The urbs, or physical environment, created a stage for the unfolding of sociopolitical life--or civitas.4 However, the contemporary city eludes such clear distinctions. The totalizing and homogenizing forces of urbanization and economics continue to dilute ‘city of street and square’ as the city tends towards disconnected fragments and sprawl

Towards a synthesized critique of neoliberal biodiversity conservation

During the last three decades, the arena of biodiversity conservation has largely aligned itself with the globally dominant political ideology of neoliberalism and associated governmentalities. Schemes such as payments for ecological services are promoted to reach the multiple ‘wins’ so desired: improved biodiversity conservation, economic development, (international) cooperation and poverty alleviation, amongst others. While critical scholarship with respect to understanding the linkages between neoliberalism, capitalism and the environment has a long tradition, a synthesized critique of neoliberal conservation - the ideology (and related practices) that the salvation of nature requires capitalist expansion - remains lacking. This paper aims to provide such a critique. We commence with the assertion that there has been a conflation between ‘economics’ and neoliberal ideology in conservation thinking and implementation. As a result, we argue, it becomes easier to distinguish the main problems that neoliberal win-win models pose for biodiversity conservation. These are framed around three points: the stimulation of contradictions; appropriation and misrepresentation and the disciplining of dissent. Inspired by Bruno Latour’s recent ‘compositionist manifesto’, the conclusion outlines some ideas for moving beyond critique

An investigation of current induced mass migration in solid metals

In this investigation of current induced mass transport, the general phenomenological equations will be considered first so as to present a picture of the experimental situation. The theoretical computations are then divided into four sections: (1) the determination of the force on a defect due to electron scattering, (2) a discussion of how the force on the defect might be shared by the surrounding ions, (3) how an external force affects the diffusion frequency of an ion, and (4) what the rate of mass transport is under the influence of an electric field. So as to simplify the discussion and the computations, numerical values for copper will be used unless otherwise indicated, and vacancies will be assumed to be the only defects present --Chapter II, page 8

ENIGMA and global neuroscience: A decade of large-scale studies of the brain in health and disease across more than 40 countries.

This review summarizes the last decade of work by the ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta Analysis) Consortium, a global alliance of over 1400 scientists across 43 countries, studying the human brain in health and disease. Building on large-scale genetic studies that discovered the first robustly replicated genetic loci associated with brain metrics, ENIGMA has diversified into over 50 working groups (WGs), pooling worldwide data and expertise to answer fundamental questions in neuroscience, psychiatry, neurology, and genetics. Most ENIGMA WGs focus on specific psychiatric and neurological conditions, other WGs study normal variation due to sex and gender differences, or development and aging; still other WGs develop methodological pipelines and tools to facilitate harmonized analyses of "big data" (i.e., genetic and epigenetic data, multimodal MRI, and electroencephalography data). These international efforts have yielded the largest neuroimaging studies to date in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. More recent ENIGMA WGs have formed to study anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts and behavior, sleep and insomnia, eating disorders, irritability, brain injury, antisocial personality and conduct disorder, and dissociative identity disorder. Here, we summarize the first decade of ENIGMA's activities and ongoing projects, and describe the successes and challenges encountered along the way. We highlight the advantages of collaborative large-scale coordinated data analyses for testing reproducibility and robustness of findings, offering the opportunity to identify brain systems involved in clinical syndromes across diverse samples and associated genetic, environmental, demographic, cognitive, and psychosocial factors

Erythematous nodes, urticarial rash and arthralgias in a large pedigree with NLRC4-related autoinflammatory disease, expansion of the phenotype

Autoinflammatory disorders (AID) are a heterogeneous group of diseases, characterized by an unprovoked innate immune response, resulting in recurrent or ongoing systemic inflammation and fever1-3. Inflammasomes are protein complexes with an essential role in pyroptosis and the caspase-1-mediated activation of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-17 and IL-18