The culture of curating and the curating of culture(s): the development of contemporary curatorial discourse in Europe and North America since 1987

Centred on the development of discussions around independent curatorial practice from 1987 to 2007 - a time of expanded understanding of the role of the curator - this dissertation illustrates how curatorial discourse has generated a significant body of knowledge within contemporary art discourses. This research has both theoretical and practical outcomes, represented within a dissertation that is divided into three parts: 1. An historical survey of key developments within curatorial practice and discourse, forming the main body of text in three chapters. 2. Four exhibition projects realised and analysed alongside this research (with Power Point presentation submitted as Appendix Two). 3. Forty-four original interviews with leading curators, artist-curators, exhibition historians, critic-curators, graduates from curatorial training programmes and leaders of these courses working between 1987 and 2007 (Appendix One). 1. Chapter One reveals how, with the first appearance of independent exhibition-makers, `demystification' of the curatorial position offered a critique of artistic autonomy in the late 1960s. It illustrates how curating became a form of self-presentation with the `curator-as- auteur' in the late 1980s, and how the `super-visibility' of a new generation of curators took place in the mid-to-late 1990s when curatorial debates and published anthologies began to appear as a way of correcting gaps in historical curatorial knowledge. Chapter Two traces the globalisation of Curating in the context of biennials and large-scale international exhibitions from 1989 to 2006. It considers how, since `Les Magiciens de la Terre' in 1989, curators have embraced globalism, transculturalism and a move towards collective models of curating. Chapter Three expands on the concept of the `curator«a bst' and reveals a convergence of istic and curatorial practice in the 1990s, which provides a theoretical hacktop to the Practical component of this research project. 2. Employing a curatorial strategy of dividing an exhibition into three spatial categories - the background, the middle-ground and the foreground - four related exhibitions were realised as practical examples of how differences between collaborative and authorial structures converge in processes of co-production. These exhibitions reflect upon the dominant issues of the theoretical research in order to practically demonstrate how the group exhibition is based on organisational structures that are the results of co-operation between artists and the curator(s), leading to co-authored exhibition formations. 3. Interviews represent the methodological approach employed as the main means of gathering knowledge and provide the primary basis of the analysis of key issues emerging during this period. They not only establish an historical trajectory for curatorial practice but also allow identification of key moments of historical conjuncture within the field. Through an examination of interview transcripts alongside literature published between 1987 and 2007 and the four inter-connected exhibitions, this research re-evaluates the relationship between artist(s) and curator(s) by demonstrating how the group exhibition form has become a creative medium of communication in and of itself

The stability of an air-maintained cavity behind a stationary object in flowing water

In studies made in the Free Surface Water Tunnel of a projectile running in an air-maintained cavity, the experimental relation between air entrainment rate and cavitation number was determined. The entrainment-rate coefficient CQ = Q/V0d^2, where Q is the air rate in cfs, V0 the free-stream velocity, and d the disk nose diameter, was plotted against cavitation parameter, K = (p0 - pk)/q0 where p0 is the free-stream pressure at the disk center line, pk the cavity pressure, and q0 the free-stream dynamic pressure. This experimental relationship for one single disc is shown for three different velocities in Fig. 1. The curves are similar in shape and each has a minimum value of entrainment coefficient which is designated by CQ^* at a value of K as designated as K^*

Improved processing of microarray data using image reconstruction techniques

Spotted cDNA microarray data analysis suffers from various problems such as noise from a variety of sources, missing data, inconsistency, and, of course, the presence of outliers. This paper introduces a new method that dramatically reduces the noise when processing the original image data. The proposed approach recreates the microarray slide image, as it would have been with all the genes removed. By subtracting this background recreation from the original, the gene ratios can be calculated with more precision and less influence from outliers and other artifacts that would normally make the analysis of this data more difficult. The new technique is also beneficial, as it does not rely on the accurate fitting of a region to each gene, with its only requirement being an approximate coordinate. In experiments conducted, the new method was tested against one of the mainstream methods of processing spotted microarray images. Our method is shown to produce much less variation in gene measurements. This evidence is supported by clustering results that show a marked improvement in accuracy

Superorbital Period in the High Mass X-ray Binary 2S 0114+650

We report the detection of a superorbital period in the high-mass X-ray binary 2S 0114+650. Analyses of data from the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) All-Sky Monitor (ASM) from 1996 January 5 to 2004 August 25 reveal a superorbital period of 30.7 +/- 0.1 d, in addition to confirming the previously reported neutron star spin period of 2.7 h and the binary orbital period of 11.6 d. It is unclear if the superorbital period can be ascribed to the precession of a warped accretion disc in the system.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, submitted to MNRAS 27th January 2005. Manuscript expanded to include discussion of evolution of periods, and hardness ratio variability. Number of figures increased from 5 to 9. Accepted for publication 19th December 200

Multiwavelength Monitoring of the Dwarf Seyfert 1 Galaxy NGC 4395. IV. The Variable UV Absorption Lines

We report the detection of variable UV absorption lines in NGC 4395, based on UV observations with the HST STIS carried out in April and July, 2004, as part of a reverberation-mapping campaign. Low-ionization lines of O I, N I, Si II, C II, and Fe II, are present in the low-state spectra (April 2004) at a velocity v_shift=-250 km/s (system A_l), and additional high-ionization lines of C IV and N V appear in the high-state spectra (July 2004) at v_shift=-250 km/s (system A_h) and at v_shift=-840 km/s (system B). The absence of absorption from the low metastable levels of Si II implies a density <~10^3 cm^(-3) for system A_l, indicating a location outside the narrow line region (NLR). System A_h is peculiar as only N V absorption is clearly detected. A high N V/C IV absorption ratio is expected for a high metallicity absorber, but this is excluded here as the metallicity of the host galaxy and of the nuclear gas is significantly subsolar. A simple acceptable model for systems A_h and B is an absorber located between the broad line region (BLR) and the NLR, which absorbs only the continuum and the BLR. At the low-state the strong narrow emission lines of C IV and N V dominate the spectrum, making the absorption invisible. At the high-state the absorbed continuum and BLR emission dominate the spectrum. Thus, the change in the observed absorption does not reflect a change in the absorber, but rather a change in the continuum and BLR emission from behind the absorber, relative to the emission from the NLR in front of the absorber. Studies of the absorption line variability in highly variable objects can thus break the degeneracy in the absorber distance determination inherent to single epoch studies.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Copasetic analysis: Automated analysis of biological gene expression images

Copyright [2004] IEEE. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of Brunel University's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.In the past decade computational biology has come to the forefront of the public's perception with advancements in domain knowledge and a variety of analysis techniques. With the recent completion of projects like the human genome sequence, and the development of microarray chips it has become possible to simultaneously analyse expression levels for thousands of genes. Typically, a slide surface of less than 24 cm2, receptors for 30,000 genes can be printed, but currently the analysis process is a time consuming semi-autonomous step requiring human guidance. The paper proposes a framework, which facilitates automated processing of these images. This is supported by real world examples, which demonstrate the technique's capabilities along with results, which show a marked improvement over existing implementations

The Hydrodynamics of the Free-Surface Water Tunnel

Free-surface water tunnels are used to determine the hydrodynamic characteristics of bodies which move in water near the surface. To develop the basic principles for the design and operation of such a tunnel the conditions for dynamic similitude near an air-water interface are analyzed. Although the tests should determine how the hydrodynamic characteristics are affected by the surface waves produced by the body itself, the dimensions and conditions of operation of the test channel are sometimes responsible for disturbances that interfere with the interpretation of the local wave effect. In order to record the type of interfering waves that might be expected and the conditions responsible for their occurrence, the Free-Surface Water Tunnel at the Hydrodynamics Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology was temporarily operated under these conditions. Since the local wave pattern produced by the body under study depends primarily on the criterion for inertial-to-gavitational similitude between model tests and prototype operation, the relation between this criterion and the conditions that produce the undesirable channel waves is discussed. Application of gravitational similitude usually results in model tests that are different from prototype operation in respect to viscous and surface-tension effects. A chart is developed showing the relations for gravitational similitude and indicating the resulting dissimilitude for viscous and surface-tension phenomena. This chart is also used to indicate the complete range of operation of a free-surface test channel as well as the range in which undesirable waves are produced in the working section. Through recognition of the nature of the interactions between the hydrodynamic characteristics of the tunnel and the body under investigation, design and operation principles for a free-surface water tunnel are developed showing how to decrease or avoid the wave difficulties and minimize the unavoidable dissimilitude

Examination of plasmid stability in a recombinant organism used in continuous fermentation

The gene for the enzyme D-GPA dehalogenase has been cloned into a multi-copy plasmid to produce the vector pTB316. It was transformed into two strains of Pseu- domonas putida , AJl-23 and NCIB11767 in the hope of increasing production of this enzyme. The clones will be cultured in a continuous fermenter in a media not containing the antibiotic. In the absence of antibiotic selection the plasmid is stable in the host but is unstable in continuous fermentation. The instability was identified as segregational using restriction mapping and Southern blots. It is caused by the high levels of constitutive gene expression in the clone; as a result a population of faster growing P(^-) segregants rise to predominance in the fermenter. Two fermentations were operated but were abandoned due to technical problems. Calculating the degree of plasmid instability was therefore done in repeated shake flask culture. From these results it was found that the cells lose the plasmid within 90 h. Strain 316NCIB11 767 is very unstable and also develops natural antibiotic reistance to strep, very readily. The addition of the substrate analogue, MCA, to a shake flask culture of 316 AJl-23 resulted in the stabilisation of the plasmid over a period of 190 hours. MCA is converted to glycollate, a toxic product in high concentrations. Conclusions regarding this observation are tentative since little is known of the organisms physiology but it may be possible that the MCA represses gene activity thereby stabilising the plasmid. Alternatively, either a glycollate-tolerant mutant has risen in the population, or a more stable variant has arisen, irrespective of the presence of MCA in the medium It is suggested that the plasmid is probably best stabilised by the insertion of a regulatable promoter such as the temperature promoters P(_R)andP(_L), of A and the fermentation operated as a two-stage system separating the active growth phase from the active gene expression phase as suggested by Seigel and Ryu (1986) and Sayadi ct al (1987)