Orbiculum

 One of three works commissioned by Experimenta, Orbiculum was part of House of Tomorrow, 30 international works curated by Liz Hughes, Shiralee Saul and Helen Stuckey. Attracting some 47000 in Melbourne (Black Box Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre) it toured major Australian galleries: Artspace, Adelaide: Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; WA Maritime Museum; Bendigo, Warrnambool and Gippsland Art Galleries and Mildura Arts Centre. Orbiculum is a kinetic, interactive sculpture where users can manipulate and view a responsive 3D virtual environment. 'In this nostalgic recreation of the archetypal Australian backyard, Lycette Bros. speculate on the fate of the suburban dream. Constructed from machine parts and electronic components, Orbiculum takes the form of a strange ornamental device. Orbiculum sits within the Cyberpunk and Gothic realm of art that has seen a resurgence of interest around technology fetishists and the like. It harks back to the work of Giger and contemporaries such as Chris Conte and Stephane Halleux. The utilisation of junk collage and sculpture combined with techno intrigue and Steam Punk obsession. This work expresses the continuing interest of the artists with these subjects - merging a physical object with the virtual. While based in an established genre its innovation fall into the developing scene of such themed artists in Australia. No matter how technologically advanced we are, there is little to distinguish us from the many that have come before. Every period - including the future - will reassess, analyse and classify the times preceding with responses ranging from condemnation to nostalgia. How will the (already threatened) great Australian dream of a home on a quarter acre block, surrounded by a paling fence be seen in the future? As a humourous, kitsch even folksy object to be mocked or a nostalgic symbol of freedom and private space long removed and regretted by those in the future

Exploring a Qualitative Approach to Arts Advocacy and Evaluation

The quantitative impact of the arts has become an increasingly important factor in determining the overall value of a project, and is often used to determine acceptance of submissions, public recognition and funding disbursement. This project evaluates current understandings of how the arts function within society, popular methods for determining the value of the arts and explores how qualitative reasoning can be utilized to communicate the value of supporting artistic endeavors. While placing a numerical value on the arts based on data collection can be important, this project will aim to evaluate the implications of relying so heavily on facts and figures to determine the value of things that are ultimately driven by human experiences that defy measure

Administrative Law—Standing to Challenge Constitutionality of Loyalty Oath

In Nostrand v. Little, the Washington State Supreme Court had an opportunity to pass on the much publicized loyalty oath required of certain state employees. Against a charge that procedural due process was violated because the statute calls for immediate dismissal upon non-compliance, the court found that the oath abridged no constitutional rights of the plaintiffs, two University of Washington professors

Some Aspects of the Omnibus Clause

The presence of an omnibus clause in automobile insurance policies can be attributed to the highly competitive nature of the insurance industry. Basically, the omnibus clause is designed to give insurance coverage to an un-named person who is driving the policyholder\u27s automobile with the latter\u27s consent. A standard clause reads, With respect to the insurance for bodily injury liability and for property damages liability the unqualified word insured includes the named insured and also includes any person while using the automobile and any organization legally responsible for the use thereof, provided the actual use is by the named insured or with his permission or the permission of an adult member of his household. Coverage under the clause is broad as it includes (1) persons not named in the policy; (2) those who pay no consideration to the insurer; (3) those who are unaware of the clause and do not rely upon it; and (4) those to whom the insurer will not issue a policy. The purpose of this Comment is to explore two problems presented by the omnibus clause. First, to obtain coverage under the clause, the named insured must grant permission to the permittee to use his car. The concept of permission has been particularly troublesome; indeed, there is little harmony among the courts as to its meaning and application. The writer proposes to analyze the approaches taken by the courts toward the concept of permission, with a special emphasis on the Washington cases. Second, an interesting and related problem posed by the recent case of Wood v. Kok has suggested a study of the situation in which the named insured allows another to use his car, and he in turn delegates operation of the automobile to a third person

Importancia de la biodiversidad en la decisión de visita a un área natural protegida del Perú

Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina. Escuela de Posgrado. Maestría en Economía de los Recursos Naturales y del AmbienteLa biodiversidad, a pesar de haber sido reconocida como un recurso natural muy valioso por su aporte al bienestar social, directo o indirecto, es poco entendida y vulnerada. En este sentido, se han realizado esfuerzos para determinar su valor económico a través de diversos métodos de valoración ambiental con el objetivo de servir como herramienta estratégica para la toma decisiones. Uno de los métodos de valoración ambiental más utilizados en áreas naturales protegidas (ANP), espacios naturales creados para conservar dicha biodiversidad, es el costo de viaje tradicional (CVT) el cual captura la importancia (en términos monetarios) de los servicios ecosistémicos comprendidos en la categoría cultural (recreación, turismo, belleza estética y experiencia espiritual) a partir de todos los gastos incurridos por los visitantes de dichos sitios. Sin embargo, la utilización del CVT no ha contemplado explícitamente la biodiversidad como un atributo del ANP (la cual podría estar capturada o incorporada dentro de algunos de los servicios culturales). De esta forma, la aplicación del CVT no ha evaluado -explícitamente- cuán importante es la biodiversidad en la decisión de visita a un ANP. Esta omisión podría generar serias implicancias en la toma de decisiones en estos espacios naturales que poseen altos niveles de biodiversidad como es el caso de algunas ANP del Perú. Por ello, el objetivo de este estudio es determinar el efecto de la biodiversidad (entendida como número de especies de flora y fauna) sobre la decisión de visitar un ANP del Perú aplicando una variante del CVT que utiliza el Modelo de Utilidad Aleatoria (RUM), variante que ha sido raramente aplicada en valoración económica de servicios culturales de estas áreas. Los resultados corroboran que la biodiversidad influye en la decisión de visita a una ANP del Perú tanto como el costo de viaje incurrido.The biodiversity, even though it has been recognized as a valuable natural resource because of its direct or indirect influence in social wellbeing, it has been barely understood and violated. That is why there have been efforts to determine its economic value by different methods of environmental valuation with the objective to be used as an strategic tool for decision making. One of the environmental valuation methods mostly used in protected natural areas (PNA), natural areas created to preserve the biodiversity, is the traditional travel cost (TTC) which highlights the importance (in monetary terms) the ecosystem services available in the cultural category (recreation, tourism, natural beauty and spiritual experience) using the expenses made by the visitors. Nevertheless, the use of the TTC does not consider the biodiversity as an attribute of the PNA (which could be incorporated in one of the cultural services). This is why the use of the TTC does not consider how important is the biodiversity in the decision of visiting a PNA. This omission could create serious implications in the decision making in these natural areas that possess high levels of biodiversity. This is the case of some Peruvian PNA. That is why the objective of this study is to determine the effect of the biodiversity (known as the number of flora and fauna species) over the decision of visiting a Peruvian PNA applying the TTC variation that uses the Random Utility Model (RUM), which has been rarely used in the economic valuation of the cultural services of these areas. The results corroborate that the biodiversity influences in the decision of visiting a Peruvian PNA as is the travel cost made.Tesi