Low-fi skin vision: A case study in rapid prototyping a sensory substitution system

We describe the design process we have used to develop a minimal, twenty vibration motor Tactile Vision Sensory Substitution (TVSS) system which enables blind-folded subjects to successfully track and bat a rolling ball and thereby experience 'skin vision'. We have employed a low-fi rapid prototyping approach to build this system and argue that this methodology is particularly effective for building embedded interactive systems. We support this argument in two ways. First, by drawing on theoretical insights from robotics, a discipline that also has to deal with the challenge of building complex embedded systems that interact with their environments; second, by using the development of our TVSS as a case study: describing the series of prototypes that led to our successful design and highlighting what we learnt at each stage

Cosmopolitan Sophistry: Grounding Politics in Disorder and Uncertainty

Conceptions of the State, Nation and politics, which are actually in play in ‘the West’, usually descend from totalitarian models which are primarily Platonic and monotheistic in origin. They aim for unity, harmony, wholeness, legitimate authority and the rejection of conflict, however much they claim to represent multiplicity. By expressing a vision of order, such models drive an idea of planning by prophecy as opposed to divination, as if the future was certain within limits and the trajectory was smooth. Chaos theory and evolutionary ecology shows us that this conception of both society and the future is inaccurate. I will argue that it is useful to look at the pre-socratic philosophers, in particular the so-called sophists Gorgias and Protagoras and Heraclitus with their sense of ongoing flux, the truth of the moment, and the necessary power of rhetoric in the leading forth of temporary functional consensus within the flux. This ongoing oscillation of conflict provides social movement and life rather than social death

Evaluation of pyroxasulfone in corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) weed management programs

Research was conducted to evaluate corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) injury and weed control with pyroxasulfone applied preemergence (PRE) and postemergence (POST). In corn, pyroxasulfone applied both PRE at 150 g/ha and POST at 60 g/ha with glyphosate controlled barnyardgrass, Palmer amaranth, sicklepod, prickly sida, browntop millet, ivyleaf morningglory, and entireleaf morningglory 90 to 99% 30 days after the POST application. Weed control was no greater than when pyroxasulfone at 150 g/ha was applied only PRE. Control of barnyardgrass, Palmer amaranth, smooth pigweed, and browntop millet was greater for pyroxasulfone PRE compared with atrazine PRE and lower corn yield was observed for the atrazine treatment. In a second corn study, pyroxasulfone applied alone PRE controlled barnyardgrass, smooth pigweed, Palmer amaranth, hophornbeam copperleaf, sicklepod, ivyleaf morningglory, pitted morningglory, and prickly sida 83 to 100% 66 days after application. Equivalent weed control was obtained for pyroxasulfone plus atrazine and atrazine plus S-metolachlor applied PRE. Corn yield was lower when pyroxasulfone was applied only PRE compared with pyroxasulfone plus atrazine PRE and atrazine plus S-metolachlor PRE. Soybean injury was observed when pyroxasulfone was applied at 60 to 300 g/ha, and at 10 days after application, injury was 2 to 5% when applied PRE and 15 to 21% when applied POST. Injury consisted of crinkling of leaflet surface, irregular leaflet margins, indentation of leaflet tips, and a drooping of leaf petioles (POST application only). Soybean yield was not negatively affected by pyroxasulfone regardless of application timing. In a second soybean study, pyroxasulfone applied alone PRE at 150 g/ha controlled, browntop millet an average of 99%, barnyardgrass 75%, hophornbeam copperleaf 99%, ivyleaf morningglory 86%, hemp sesbania 98%, sicklepod 95% and pitted morningglory 73% around 30 days after treatment. Compared with pyroxasulfone applied alone PRE at 150 g/ha, weed control was not improved when pyroxasulfone was applied PRE with saflufenacil, flumioxazin, fluthicet-methyl, or chlorimuron ethyl plus flumioxazin plus thifensulfuron methyl. Crop safety, consistency in weed control, and flexibility in application timing with pyroxasulfone suggests that it should have a fit in corn and soybean weed management programs in the mid-south

Prehistoric Giant Swamp Taro (Cyrtosperma chamissonis) from Henderson Island, Southeast Polynesia

Subfossilleaf fragments of giant swamp taro (Cyrtosperma chamissonis) were recovered from archaeological contexts dating as early as A.D. 1451 (mean date) on Henderson Island (24 0 22' S, 1280 19' W), Pitcairn group-a raised limestone (makatea) island isolated at the extreme margin of southeastern Polynesia and the Indo-West Pacific biotic province. Comparison of subfossil specimens and modern reference material from a range of known cultigens under scanning electron microscopy confirms the identification. A period of active interarchipelago voyaging between A.D. 1000 and A.D. 1500 is known from recent summaries of the geochemical analysis of exotic finegrained basalt artifacts from archaeological sites throughout Polynesia. If not an initial colonization, it is during this time that Cyrtosperma should have been introduced prehistorically to most, if not all, of the inhabitable islands of the region, especially those island groups lying to the west of Henderson. Investigation of subfossil plant remains adds another dimension to understanding plant distributions, prehistoric crop use, and subsistence practices in the Indo-Pacific region

The post disciplinary digital practitioner.

As new models of digital practice emerge, new pedagogies are being developed which are adopting a transdisciplinary approach to learning. The paper examines the concept of transdisciplinarity drawing on a range of examples from the USA and Europe. There are a number of institutional barriers and constraints that challenge progress towards a new digital Bauhaus. The tension between acquiring haptic and digital skills is also an important consideration. The tension we refer to arises from the need for students to acquire an understanding of elements of form, colour and spatial awareness, skills which are acquired through making, whilst at the same time acquiring digital skills. Examples of digital practitioners who have embraced a transdisciplinary approach are highlighted

Specimen records of Oarisma Scudder 1872 (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) in the Oregon State Arthropod Collection, OSU, Corvallis OR.

Label data for 260 specimens of skipperlets are digitally recorded in a DarwinCore compatible occurrence record dataset (attached). Information about the data and metadata is presented as well as the rationale for capturing this particular set of specimen records