Seeing Double: Assessing Kendall Walton’s Views on Painting and Photography

In this paper I consider Kendall Walton’s provocative views on the visual arts, including his approaches to understanding both figurative and nonfigurative painting. I introduce his central notion of fictionality, illustrating its advantages in explaining the phenomenon of ‘perceptual twofoldness’. I argue that Walton’s position treats abstract artwork reductively, and I outline two essential components of our aesthetic encounters with the nonfigurative that Walton excludes. I then offer some criticisms of his commitment to photographic realism, emphasising its theoretical inconsistencies with his account of representation. My own proposal is that in our apprehension of non-figurative artworks, our attention is drawn to the underlying structures of both emotive and perceptual experience. In this way, paintings, particularly abstract ones, disclose human cognition in a manner that makes fictionality an inappropriate tool for their analysis

Observations and predictions at CesrTA, and outlook for ILC

In this paper, we will describe some of the recent experimental measurements [1, 2, 3] performed at CESRTA [4], and the supporting simulations, which probe the interaction of the electron cloud with the stored beam. These experiments have been done over a wide range of beam energies, emittances, bunch currents, and fill patterns, to gather sufficient information to be able to fully characterize the beam-electron-cloud interaction and validate the simulation programs. The range of beam conditions is chosen to be as close as possible to those of the ILC damping ring, so that the validated simulation programs can be used to predict the performance of these rings with regard to electroncloud- related phenomena. Using the new simulation code Synrad3D to simulate the synchrotron radiation environment, a vacuum chamber design has been developed for the ILC damping ring which achieves the required level of photoelectron suppression. To determine the expected electron cloud density in the ring, EC buildup simulations have been done based on the simulated radiation environment and on the expected performance of the ILC damping ring chamber mitigation prescriptions. The expected density has been compared with analytical estimates of the instability threshold, to verify that the ILC damping ring vacuum chamber design is adequate to suppress the electron cloud single-bunch head-tail instability.Comment: 11 pages, contribution to the Joint INFN-CERN-EuCARD-AccNet Workshop on Electron-Cloud Effects: ECLOUD'12; 5-9 Jun 2012, La Biodola, Isola d'Elba, Ital

Intrabeam Scattering Studies at CesrTA

Intrabeam scattering (IBS) limits the emittance and single-bunch current that can be achieved in electron or positron storage ring colliders, damping rings, and light sources. Much theoretical work on IBS exists, and while the theories have been validated in hadron and ion machines, the presence of strong damping makes IBS in lepton machines a different phenomenon. We present the results of measurements at CesrTA of IBS dominated beams, and compare the data with theory. The beams we study have parameters typical of those specified for the next generation of wiggler dominated storage rings: low emittance, small bunch length, and few GeV energy. Our measurements are in good agreement with IBS theory, provided a tail-cut procedure is applied.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figure

Insights into the function of silver as an oxidation catalyst by ab initio, atomistic thermodynamics

To help understand the high activity of silver as an oxidation catalyst, e.g., for the oxidation of ethylene to epoxide and the dehydrogenation of methanol to formaldehyde, the interaction and stability of oxygen species at the Ag(111) surface has been studied for a wide range of coverages. Through calculation of the free energy, as obtained from density-functional theory and taking into account the temperature and pressure via the oxygen chemical potential, we obtain the phase diagram of O/Ag(111). Our results reveal that a thin surface-oxide structure is most stable for the temperature and pressure range of ethylene epoxidation and we propose it (and possibly other similar structures) contains the species actuating the catalysis. For higher temperatures, low coverages of chemisorbed oxygen are most stable, which could also play a role in oxidation reactions. For temperatures greater than about 775 K there are no stable oxygen species, except for the possibility of O atoms adsorbed at under-coordinated surface sites Our calculations rule out thicker oxide-like structures, as well as bulk dissolved oxygen and molecular ozone-like species, as playing a role in the oxidation reactions.Comment: 15 pages including 9 figures, Related publications can be found at http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm

Non-Targeted PFAS Suspect Screening and Quantification of Drinking Water Samples Collected through Community Engaged Research in North Carolina’s Cape Fear River Basin

A community engaged research (CER) approach was used to provide an exposure assessment of poly- and perfluorinated (PFAS) compounds in North Carolina residential drinking water. Working in concert with community partners, who acted as liaisons to local residents, samples were collected by North Carolina residents from three different locations along the Cape Fear River basin: upper, middle, and lower areas of the river. Residents collected either drinking water samples from their homes or recreational water samples from near their residence that were then submitted by the community partners for PFAS analysis. All samples were processed using weak anion exchange (WAX) solid phase extraction and analyzed using a non-targeted suspect screening approach as well as a quantitative approach that included a panel of 45 PFAS analytes, several of which are specific to chemical industries near the collection site locations. The non-targeted approach, which utilized a suspect screening list (obtained from EPA CompTox database) identified several PFAS compounds at a level two confidence rating (Schymanski scale); compounds identified included a fluorinated insecticide, a fluorinated herbicide, a PFAS used in polymer chemistry, and another that is used in battery production. Notably, at several locations, PFOA (39.8 ng/L) and PFOS (205.3 ng/L) were at levels that exceeded the mandatory EPA maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 4 ng/L. Additionally, several sites had detectable levels of PFAS that are unique to a local chemical manufacturer. These findings were communicated back to the community partners who then disseminated this information to the local residents to help empower and aid in making decisions for reducing their PFAS exposure

Does patient satisfaction of general practice change over a decade?

Background The Patient Participation Program (PPP) was a patient satisfaction survey endorsed by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and designed to assist general practitioners in continuous quality improvement (CQI). The survey was been undertaken by 3500 practices and over a million patients between 1994 and 2003. This study aimed to use pooled patient questionnaire data to investigate changes in satisfaction with primary care over time. Methods The results of 10 years of the PPP surveys were analyzed with respect to 10 variables including the year of completion, patient age, gender, practice size, attendance at other doctors, and whether the practice had previously undertaken the survey. Comparisons were made using Logistic Generalized Estimating Equations (LGEE). Results There was a very high level of satisfaction with general practice in Australia (99% of respondents). An independent indicator of satisfaction was created by pooling the results of 12 questions. This new indicator had a greater variance than the single overall satisfaction question. Participants were shown to have higher levels of satisfaction if they were male, older, did not attend other practitioners or the practice was small in size. A minimal improvement in satisfaction was detected in this pooled indicator for the second or third survey undertaken by a practice. There was however no statistically significant change in pooled satisfaction with the year of survey. Conclusion The very high level of satisfaction made it difficult to demonstrate change. It is likely that this and the presentation of results made it difficult for GPs to use the survey to improve their practices. A more useful survey would be more sensitive to detect negative patient opinions and provide integrated feedback to GPs. At present, there are concerns about the usefulness of the PPP in continuous quality improvement in general practice.James Allan, Peter Schattner, Nigel Stocks and Emmae Ramsa

Does patient satisfaction of general practice change over a decade?

Background The Patient Participation Program (PPP) was a patient satisfaction survey endorsed by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and designed to assist general practitioners in continuous quality improvement (CQI). The survey was been undertaken by 3500 practices and over a million patients between 1994 and 2003. This study aimed to use pooled patient questionnaire data to investigate changes in satisfaction with primary care over time. Methods The results of 10 years of the PPP surveys were analyzed with respect to 10 variables including the year of completion, patient age, gender, practice size, attendance at other doctors, and whether the practice had previously undertaken the survey. Comparisons were made using Logistic Generalized Estimating Equations (LGEE). Results There was a very high level of satisfaction with general practice in Australia (99% of respondents). An independent indicator of satisfaction was created by pooling the results of 12 questions. This new indicator had a greater variance than the single overall satisfaction question. Participants were shown to have higher levels of satisfaction if they were male, older, did not attend other practitioners or the practice was small in size. A minimal improvement in satisfaction was detected in this pooled indicator for the second or third survey undertaken by a practice. There was however no statistically significant change in pooled satisfaction with the year of survey. Conclusion The very high level of satisfaction made it difficult to demonstrate change. It is likely that this and the presentation of results made it difficult for GPs to use the survey to improve their practices. A more useful survey would be more sensitive to detect negative patient opinions and provide integrated feedback to GPs. At present, there are concerns about the usefulness of the PPP in continuous quality improvement in general practice.James Allan, Peter Schattner, Nigel Stocks and Emmae Ramsa

Methods for specifying the target difference in a randomised controlled trial : the Difference ELicitation in TriAls (DELTA) systematic review

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Spirit, mind and body: the archaeology of monastic healing

Archaeology and material culture are used in this chapter to consider how monastic experience responded to illness, ageing and disability. The approach taken is influenced by the material study of religion, which interrogates how bodies and things engage to construct the sensory experience of religion, and by practice-based approaches in archaeology, which examine the active role of space and material culture in shaping religious agency and embodiment. The archaeology of monastic healing focuses on the full spectrum of healing technologies, from managing the body in order to prevent illness, through to the treatment of the sick and preparation of the corpse for burial