Repositioning Neuroaesthetics Through Contemporary Art

Neuroaesthetics has tended to privilege neuroscientific understandings of art, eliding centuries of art historical research on perception and culture. Instead, this dissertation extends neuroaesthetic research to examine the specific social, sensorial and perceptual processes occurring as artworks are encountered in exhibition contexts. How does neuroaesthetic perception operate in contemporary artworks? What modes of cognitive address are involved? How can neuroaesthetic engagement facilitate embodied knowledges? This dissertation first inquires into the neuroaesthetic literature in order to establish its neuroscientific foundations, and then advances a perceptual standpoint stemming from art and art history. Drawing from feminist theories of embodiment, I reposition neuroaesthetics to incorporate art historical inquiries into body and mind through direct engagement with art. I argue that such a revised neuroaesthic perception must take into account post-humanist troublings of nature/culture dichotomies. I also suggest that the paradigm for embodied perception that has emerged from both cognitive neuroscience and affect theory can expand neuroaesthetic understanding. My investigation has led me to first-hand experience as a research subject of neuroscience experiments, which show that current fMRI contexts in fact delimit the perception of art and inhibit possible neuroaesthetic significance. Instead, I undertake neuroaesthetic research in exhibition contexts where self-reflexive awareness facilitates insights into perception and cognition that are inaccessible within the epistemological conditions of neuroscience labs. The first case study examines how an installation by the FASTWÜRMS collective reveals cognitive processes of abduction by inviting navigation through an infinitely complex web of objects and images. Turning from association to visual cognition, I consider how Olafur Eliasson’s immersive light installations manipulate colour perception thereby facilitating critical awareness of techno-mediated environments. Third, my analysis of a conceptual work by Kristin Lucas explores how the performance of digital and legal technology invites embodied transformations. Finally, I examine how the affective tensions produced in a video by Omer Fast activate an awareness of intersubjective communication that corresponds with recent neuroscientific developments in mirror-neuron theory. By taking contemporary artworks as its focus, the dissertation extends neuroaesthetic inquiry to demonstrate contextual understandings of how the cognitive processes of art constitute physiological engagements between body, brain and world

Experimental demonstration of a dual-frequency laser free from anti-phase noise

A reduction of more than 20 dB of the intensity noise at the anti-phase relaxation oscillation frequency is experimentally demonstrated in a two-polarization dual-frequency solid-state laser without any optical or electronic feedback loop. Such a behavior is inherently obtained by aligning the two orthogonally polarized oscillating modes with the crystallographic axes of a (100)-cut neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet active medium. The anti-phase noise level is shown to increase as soon as one departs from this peculiar configuration, evidencing the predominant role of the nonlinear coupling constant. This experimental demonstration opens new perspectives on the design and realization of extremely low noise dual-frequency solid-state lasers

Surficial Geology of the Burr Oak (Iowa) 7.5\u27\u27 Quadrangle,

https://ir.uiowa.edu/igs_ofm/1049/thumbnail.jp

Bedrock Geology of the Upper Iowa River Watershed Phase 4: Dorchester (Iowa) 7.5\u27 Quadrangle,

https://ir.uiowa.edu/igs_ofm/1058/thumbnail.jp

Surficial Geology of the Freeport (Iowa) 7.5\u27\u27 Quadrangle,

https://ir.uiowa.edu/igs_ofm/1043/thumbnail.jp

Surficial Geology of the Highlandville (Iowa) 7.5\u27\u27 Quadrangle,

https://ir.uiowa.edu/igs_ofm/1050/thumbnail.jp

Surficial Geology of the Bluffton (Iowa) 7.5\u27\u27 Quadrangle,

https://ir.uiowa.edu/igs_ofm/1046/thumbnail.jp

UK Letter Mail Demand: A Content Based Time Series Analysis Using Overlapping Market Survey Statistical Techniques

Competition has become increasingly important in the postal sector for some time in the form of alternative entrants providing mail delivery. However, the competition from ICT in the form of email and instant messaging, the Internet, Facebook and other forms of social networking and portable wireless devices such as the iPad and Kindle may be even more significant. Mail volumes are falling and the economies of scale that have made possible daily deliveries to every address are being eroded. This book assesses volume these declines resulting from this so-called ‘eSubstituion’ and looks at the ways the postal sector can adapt to the rapid changes resulting from ICT. The impact of electronic invoicing on transactions mail, and the impact on bulk mail of electronic forms of advertising are examined. Strategies, including pricing and access policies, are discussed in the context of the increasing impact of ICT. A rethinking of the role of mail in an electronic age is taking place and this book provides the cutting-edge of this rethinking and the attempts of POs to reinvent themselves while continuing to meet the public’s expectation of continuing ubiquitous daily deliveries of traditional mail products

Putting a Human Face on Child Welfare: Voices from the Prairies

The chapters in this book represent a selection of the many very fine presentations made at the Prairie Child Welfare Consortium\u27s (PCWC) 3rd bi-annual Symposium, held in Edmonton, Alberta, November 23–25, 2005. The theme of that Symposium was Putting a Human Face on Child Welfare. Sharon McKay\u27s article Development of the Prairie Child Welfare Consortium at the beginning of this book provides a brief history of the beginnings of the PCWC, illustrating not only its practical, but more importantly the philosophical development. Readers will find that this philosophy informs a great deal of the writing in the 11 chapters of this book. The chapters of Putting a Human Face on Child Welfare: Voices from the Prairies are presented in no particular order, and one is not more important than another. Each presents its unique perspective and represents somewhat different constituents. Collectively, the chapters of this book form a product that is one way of raising the voices of the Prairies, especially as it relates to the important challenges we face at the present time in child welfare.https://source.sheridancollege.ca/fahcs_heal_book/1000/thumbnail.jp