"A vision of love and luxury": The commercialization of nineteenth-century American weddings

This article traces the commercialization of weddings in the second half of the nineteenth century. During this period, jewelers and silverware manufacturers recognized the possibilities of the bridal trade. They began to offer special bridal goods and services; they addressed themselves specifically to bridal couples and to those in search of presents for them; and they sought to influence the practices surrounding fashionable weddings in order to expand demand. Fancy bridal gift giving was further justified by a new sentimental attachment to goods among the middle to upper classes, whose fetishistic rhetoric remains a feature of wedding advertising today. © 2004 by The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Inc. All rights reserved

Kierkegaard's post-enlightenment subject: the grammar and goal of belief

S0ren Kierkegaard's thesis, "Truth is Subjectivity", is presented in Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments, as the central philosophical concept of his pseudonymous authorship. Contrary to most readings, it is argued here that Kierkegaard's subjectivity principle is epistemologically normative, not for ethical and religious beliefs only, but for a wider, general epistemology as well. The significance of Kierkegaard's claim that truth is subjectivity is that Kierkegaard is recasting epistemological issues in theological and ethical terms.Part One argues that Kierkegaard formulates his subjectivity principle as a response to the Enlightenment epistemologies, specifically of Kant and Hegel, and more generally Descartes, that seek to ground epistemology infallibly in the metaphysical resources of human rationality. Kierkegaard limits the scope of reason and philosophy in a manner that is reminiscent of the late Wittgenstein, and understands the activity of philosophy as analogous to grammar. What is glossed over by Enlightenment epistemology is the human subject's involvement in any act of belief. Rather than seeing human subjectivity as a hindrance to the pursuit of truth, Kierkegaard understands subjectivity (for humans) to be the means of attaining truth.There are two basic types of subjectivity for Kierkegaard. Constitutional subjectivity refers to human persons as beings who achieve subjectivity, or a first person perspective on the world. Reflexive subjectivity, on the other hand, refers to the general subject-forming activities that comprise the process of becoming subjective, and has as its primary constituent a reflective component. These senses of subjectivity combine to provide Kierkegaard's subjectivity principle with its normative and critical capacity.Part Two outlines how Kierkegaard's two senses of subjectivity function normatively with respect to beliefs. This section demonstrates that Kierkegaard's grammar of subjectivity in the end is a grammar of belief also. The conclusion of the dissertation is that Kierkegaard's subjectivity principle is a meta-epistemological principle through which Kierkegaard details an ethic of belief that is ultimately theological in nature

Coloring Random Triangulations

We introduce and solve a two-matrix model for the tri-coloring problem of the vertices of a random triangulation. We present three different solutions: (i) by orthogonal polynomial techniques (ii) by use of a discrete Hirota bilinear equation (iii) by direct expansion. The model is found to lie in the universality class of pure two-dimensional quantum gravity, despite the non-polynomiality of its potential.Comment: 50 pages, 4 figures, Tex, uses harvmac, eps

Increasing Complexity Approach to the Fundamental Surface and Interface Chemistry on SOFC Anode Materials

In this Account, we demonstrate an increasing complexity approach to gain insight into the principal aspects of the surface and interface chemistry and catalysis of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anode and electrolyte materials based on selected oxide, intermetallic, and metal–oxide systems at different levels of material complexity, as well as into the fundamental microkinetic reaction steps and intermediates at catalytically active surface and interface sites. To dismantle the complexity, we highlight our deconstructing step-by-step approach, which allows one to deduce synergistic properties of complex composite materials from the individual surface catalytic properties of the single constituents, representing the lowest complexity level: pure oxides and pure metallic materials. Upon mixing and doping the latter, directly leading to formation of intermetallic compounds/alloys in the case of metals and oxygen ion conductors/mixed ionic and electronic conductors for oxides, a second complexity level is reached. Finally, the introduction of an (inter)metall(ic)–(mixed) oxide interface leads to the third complexity level. A shell-like model featuring three levels of complexity with the unveiled surface and interface chemistry at its core evolves. As the shift to increased complexity decreases the number of different materials, the interconnections between the studied materials become more convoluted, but the resulting picture of surface chemistry becomes clearer. The materials featured in our investigations are all either already used technologically important or prospective components of SOFCs (such as yttria-stabilized zirconia, perovskites, or Ni–Cu alloys) or their basic constituents (e.g., ZrO2), or they are formed by reactions of other compounds (for instance, pyrochlores are thought to be formed at the YSZ/perovskite phase boundary). We elaborate three representative case studies based on ZrO2, Y2O3, and Y-doped ZrO2 in detail from all three complexity levels. By interconnection of results, we are able to derive common principles of the influence of surface and interface chemistry on the catalytic operation of SOFC anode materials. In situ measurements of the reactivity of water and carbon surface species on ZrO2- and Y2O3-based materials represent levels 1 and 2. The highest degree of complexity at level 3 is exemplified by combined surface science and catalytic studies of metal–oxide systems, oxidatively derived from intermetallic Cu–Zr and Pd–Zr compounds and featuring a large number of phases and interfaces. We show that only by appreciating insight into the basic building blocks of the catalyst materials at lower levels, a full understanding of the catalytic operation of the most complex materials at the highest level is possible

Topological Entropy of Braids on the Torus

A fast method is presented for computing the topological entropy of braids on the torus. This work is motivated by the need to analyze large braids when studying two-dimensional flows via the braiding of a large number of particle trajectories. Our approach is a generalization of Moussafir's technique for braids on the sphere. Previous methods for computing topological entropies include the Bestvina--Handel train-track algorithm and matrix representations of the braid group. However, the Bestvina--Handel algorithm quickly becomes computationally intractable for large braid words, and matrix methods give only lower bounds, which are often poor for large braids. Our method is computationally fast and appears to give exponential convergence towards the exact entropy. As an illustration we apply our approach to the braiding of both periodic and aperiodic trajectories in the sine flow. The efficiency of the method allows us to explore how much extra information about flow entropy is encoded in the braid as the number of trajectories becomes large.Comment: 19 pages, 44 figures. SIAM journal styl

MF2167

This project was funded in part by USDA Extension Service under the Food Safety and Quality Initiative, special project number 94-EFSQ-1-4111.Karen Pesaresi Penner et al., Food safety training for KanWork: final report, Kansas State University, January 1996

The Cornell Kitchen: Design and Housing Research in Postwar America

The Cornell Kitchen (1950–55) was produced at Cornell University by a multidisciplinary team with expertise in home economics, engineering, architecture, and psychology. It promised to deliver rational design, functional principles, aesthetic appeal, and emotional satisfaction in one prefabricated, easy-to-install package. This article sets out the kitchen’s history from its design to its field-testing phase to its impact on postwar kitchens. It argues that the kitchen represents an important effort to approach housing in a more scientific way; scientific methods were deployed to understand both the physical and socio-psychological problems of dwelling. The project also sought to introduce a specific model for leveraging housing research into the real world, partnering with industry to mass produce scientific designs. Social scientific methods were hence used to create not only more livable but also more saleable products in an effort to appeal to manufacturers and consumers alike

Piglet Mortality in Various Hut Types for Outdoor Farrowing

This study documents differences in pig crushing mortality rates in various outdoor farrowing hut types. Larger huts with the door in the corner and space for piglets to stay away from and protected from the sow had lower crushing losses. Mothering ability by the sow may be particularly important in outdoor systems where the sows have greater freedom and mobilit

Segregated Early Weaning (SEW) of Pasture-farrowed Pigs

Segregated early weaning (SEW) works well with pasture-farrowed pigs. The SEW pasture-farrowed pigs weighed about the same as conventionally weaned pigs at 9 weeks of age with lower death losses (about 2% less). For the period 5–9 weeks of age the SEW pigs gained more rapidly and were more efficient converting feed to live gain than pigs weaned at 5 weeks of age and moved to an open-front shelter. However, costs were presumably higher for the SEW pigs because of higher labor costs from multiple feedings per day, higher-priced pig feed for early weaned pigs, higher utility costs, and the added cost of a nursery unit. Based on the results of this trial, SEW is compatible with pasture farrowing. However, pasture farrowing may not be as compatible with the mechanics of SEW. For example, because pasture farrowing is seasonal, the SEW nursery may not be kept full at all times. This would reduce the throughput, the number of pigs through the unit, which would increase the fixed building costs per pig. A new approach of putting newly weaned 2-week-old, 10-lb pigs directly into a finishing unit would partially alleviate this situation or lower fixed cost SEW nurseries are needed that then could be used on a seasonal basis. On the other hand, the technique of early weaning pasture-farrowed pigs has the potential of extending the farrowing season while reducing piglet mortality and minimizing the negative effects of weather extremes. By its nature, a one-litter pasture-farrowing system may benefit less from SEW than other more intensive or continuous pig production systems. In a one-litter system considerable age segregation of pigs occurs on the farm at all times. The sows are sold after weaning. At most times throughout the year the pigs on the farm are the same age. If the herd already has a high health status, the advantages of SEW are much less. Therefore, SEW will work for pasture farrowed pigs but herd health status and overall SEW costs need to be carefully evaluated. A cost comparison of SEW for pasture-farrowed pigs is elsewhere in this report