\u27Calling Out From Some Old Familiar Shrine\u27: Living Archivism and Age Performativity in Bob Dylan\u27s Late Period

The release of Bob Dylan’s 30th studio album in 1997, Time Out of Mind, marked an unlikely and triumphant return to critical acclaim following years of personal and creative decline. From this point onward, Dylan would maintain a quality of output comparable to his 1960s catalogue and unprecedented among artists in the twilight of their career. The proceeding albums, from “Love and Theft” (2001) to Triplicate (2017) would present Dylan as a living archive of traditional American genres – an intersection through which rock and roll, blues, bluegrass, and vocal jazz would pass. The notion of Dylan as a living archive is made possible firstly by a noticeable change in his late period songwriting, as his lifting of lyrics and literary passages becomes more brazen and problematic. An alternative reading offered here posits Dylan working in the vein of modernist cultural curation, a freedom granted to him by his advanced age and authority. Dylan’s late period output is also marked by a change in the singing voice and the emergence of two modes, the ‘croak’ and ‘croon,’ which are posited as intentional artistic decisions in service of the living archive project. A secondary function of this ‘new’ old voice is a performance of age intended to establish and solidify Dylan’s role as elder statesman and living archive, summoning the artists and genres he seeks to emulate. This suggestion is explored by way of analyses of each album from Time Out of Mind to Dylan’s standards albums of 2015-2017, followed by a discussion of the role of persona and the relationship between Dylan’s late period singing and songwriting

From Health to Harmony: Uncovering the range of heating needs in British households

Effective low carbon heating products, services and policies are critical if the UK is to meet its climate change commitments. However, these are normally developed for the hypothetical or ‘modelled’ household. The activities, behaviours and needs of ‘real’ households cannot be anticipated based on their income or makeup, nor do they remain static for any length of time. Drawing from a mixed methods approach, this paper discusses the range of needs which affect how households use the heating in their homes. These needs are grouped into 4 categories (wellbeing, resources, ease of use and relational dynamics), and 8 subcategories (health, comfort, cost, waste, control, convenience, harmony and hospitality). The paper discusses the individual and changing nature of these needs through a ‘continuum of priority’ and the factors affecting decision making. This categorisation aims to educate technologists and policy developers of the scale of flexibility required for impactful change. Low carbon policies, products and services will be more successful if they enable consumers to meet all of these needs. The challenge is to develop tools that enable designers and developers to recognise what needs each household has and how their needs change over time

Temporality, vulnerability, and energy justice in household low carbon innovations

Decarbonisation and innovation will change the affordability of different domestic energy services. This has the potential to alleviate vulnerability to fuel poverty, but it could create new injustices unless the risks are preempted and actively mitigated. In this paper, we ask: In what ways can emerging low-carbon innovations at the household scale complement, and complicate, achieving energy justice objectives? Drawing from four empirical case studies in the United Kingdom, the paper highlights different risks that come from different types of innovation required to tackle different decarbonisation challenges. More specifically, it assesses four particular household innovations—energy service contracts, electric vehicles, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, and low carbon heating—selected for their fit with a typology of incremental vs. radical technology and modest vs. substantial changes in user practices. It shows how in each case, such innovations come with a collection of opportunities but also threats. In doing so, the paper seeks to unveil the “political economy” of low-carbon innovations, identifying particular tensions alongside who wins and who loses, as well as the scope and temporality of those consequences

Weight change and ovarian steroid profiles in young women

Objective: To investigate possible short-term effects of voluntary weight loss on ovarian steroid profiles in young women, in light of better established long-term effects in older women. Design: We tested for an association of voluntary weight change over the course of a menstrual cycle with salivary E2 and P profiles in the same menstrual cycle. Setting: Students were recruited in a college residence hall, and they provided daily saliva samples to a researcher living nearby. Patient(s): The 65 women who participated were all college students and ranged in age between 18 and 23 years. Intervention(s): None. Main Outcome Measure(s): Weight was assessed in the first week of the menstrual cycle and first week of the following menstrual cycle. Estradiol and P were measured by radioimmunoassay in daily saliva samples. Result(s): We did not detect a suppressive effect of weight loss on the overall level of either hormone. However, we did find evidence for more distinct follicular and luteal E2 peaks in women who gained weight. Peak luteal P also arrived about 2 days earlier in women who gained weight. Conclusion(s): This finding adds to evidence that short-term response of ovarian function to weight loss in young women is less pronounced than long-term response in older women.AnthropologyHuman Evolutionary Biolog

Two-photon or higher-order absorbing optical materials for generation of reactive species

Disclosed are highly efficient multiphoton absorbing compounds and methods of their use. The compounds generally include a bridge of pi-conjugated bonds connecting electron donating groups or electron accepting groups. The bridge may be substituted with a variety of substituents as well. Solubility, lipophilicity, absorption maxima and other characteristics of the compounds may be tailored by changing the electron donating groups or electron accepting groups, the substituents attached to or the length of the pi-conjugated bridge. Numerous photophysical and photochemical methods are enabled by converting these compounds to electronically excited states upon simultaneous absorption of at least two photons of radiation. The compounds have large two-photon or higher-order absorptivities such that upon absorption, one or more Lewis acidic species, Lewis basic species, radical species or ionic species are formed

Testing smarter control and feedback with users: time, temperature and space in household heating preferences and practices in a Living Laboratory

Transitioning to more efficient and less carbon-intensive heating is a monumental policy challenge in the United Kingdom. However, very few households in the UK—and perhaps even elsewhere—have actual experience with state-of-the-art smart heating systems that may utilize enhanced control or feedback. Drawing from a unique sample of actual adopters of smart heating, this study closely examines the heating preferences, practices, and profiles of homes when they are given smarter heating systems. The study utilizes qualitative household data from the Energy System Catapult’s Living Laboratory of 100 smart homes in Birmingham (West Midlands), Bridgend (Wales), Manchester (Greater Manchester), and Newcastle (Northumberland). We examine the heating preferences and profiles of participants, with findings inductively organized around the themes of temperature, including tradeoffs between comfort, cost, and value; time, including the utility of heat scheduling; and space, including zonal heating controls. We also discuss patterns of learning, the emergence of environmental values, and issues of discomfort. We conclude by commenting on important distinctions between radiant and ambient heat, as well as between scheduled and on-demand heat. The main findings are 1) tradeoffs between comfort, value and cost occur when it comes to smart heating; 2) people want different numbers of warm hours in their homes at very different times; 3) households chose to heat different numbers of rooms; and 4) there are other non-monetary and non-functional aspects of smart heating that households value

From thermal comfort to conflict: the contested control and usage of domestic smart heating in the United Kingdom

The possible benefits of the ongoing digitization and enhancement of energy services with smart technologies has been extensively documented in the literature, but is there also scope for smart systems to lead to household conflicts? In this study, using data from the Energy Systems Catapult's Living Laboratory, we explore a fundamental energy service (heat) utilized in buildings from a novel angle: social conflict. We define social conflict as oppositional goals, aims, and values held by different people. We draw from three sets of primary data—diary studies and blogging via mobile ethnography, telephone interviews, and household interviews—involving 100 homes across Birmingham (West Midlands), Bridgend (Wales), Manchester (Greater Manchester), and Newcastle (Northumberland) in the United Kingdom. We identify five different forms of “thermal conflict”: parents versus children, hosts versus guests, roommates vs. each other, landlords vs. tenants, and couples vs. each other. After documenting the presence of 20 specific examples of conflict, we then discuss how they differ by location (intrinsic vs. extrinsic), type (preference, attitude, and variety) and values (hedonic, egoistic, altruistic, biospheric). We conclude with implications for energy and buildings research and policy more broadly, noting that thermal conflicts in the home differ in their location or cause. Moreover, thermal conflicts differ in their severity, with some occurring as more minor annoyances over preferences, but others relating attitudes, where heating actions or preferences become a proxy for something else, and emit strong feelings about how household members view another person as lazy, careless or wasteful. A variety of values remain attached to heating conflicts, with hedonic (self-comfort, self-pleasure), egoistic (saving money, control) and altruistic (helping others, making others comfortable) values almost evenly reflected across our examples

Humanizing heat as a service: cost, creature comforts and the diversity of smart heating practices in the United Kingdom

Why do people heat their homes the way they do? What are the underlying patterns or justifications for their heating preferences and practices? In this study, using data from the Energy Systems Catapult's Living Laboratory, we present a novel conceptual framework that ties together insights from “lived experiences” research with “narratives and energy biographies.” We synthesize from these approaches the notion of “energy phenomenology,” which holds that heating practices will be mediated by individual identity, experiential preferences and needs, socio-material attachment, and lifestyle changes. In other words, the energy phenomenology framework demands that we understand the lived experiences, practices, and identities that intercede and shape smart heat services and consumption. Then, we test this framework with three sets of primary data—undirected diary studies and blogging, directed diary studies and blogging, and household interviews—involving 100 homes using smart heating controls across Birmingham (West Midlands), Bridgend (Wales), Manchester (Greater Manchester), and Newcastle (Northumberland) in the United Kingdom. We identify seven different phenomenological uses of smart heat—parental care, alleviating pain, fresh air, personal care, zoophilism (caring for pets, animals, and plants), social signaling, and structural fortification. Rather than merely germinating from rational choices based on available information about the likely costs and benefits of their behavior, smart heating—an essential tool for the decarbonisation of buildings, fossil energy, and electricity—is a phenomenological process. Policy and research efforts that fail to appreciate these dynamics risk capturing only a partial and incomplete picture of how and why people heat homes and domestic spaces. The outcome could be that these policies will fail to meet their objective of decarbonizing domestic heating and averting climate change