Concrete Thinking for Sculpture

This article proposes to explore the variegated plays of concrete as a travelling concept through four specific examples, viewed from the locality of the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle in 2015. It will be argued that ‘concrete’ makes possible a triangulated reading practice in, of and for sculpture. The first example looks to the use of concrete, as a material, in some of the ‘technical’ experiments of Henry Moore, from the 1920s-1930s. The second example is the only public concrete sculpture by Barbara Hepworth on record, entitled Turning Forms. This is a kinetic work which was commissioned for the Festival of Britain in 1951. The psychic registrations of form-in-concrete will be explored through the aesthetic reception and understanding of these works. The third example examines the interplay between abstraction and concretion in a work of structural engineering: the Arqiva transmission tower on Emley Moor. This structure is a working utilitarian model of the telecommunications industry which took hold in the 1960s and 1970s. It is also a sculptural monument in a landscape of other design ‘types’. The fourth example considers the recent display of Lygia Clark’s Bichos at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, in 2014-2015. Bicho Pássaro do Espaço (‘Creature Passing through Space’) (1960) reveals a particular translation between concrete thinking and concrete experience. These examples call upon the semantics of the concrete as a thought process and will track a journey into a region marked by three interconnected points: the concrete specificity in the material works selected, the broader field of concrete forms within which the sculptural may sit and the philosophical/aesthetic language of concrete for sculpture

The relationship between will and reason in the moral philosophies of Kant and Aquinas

Both Kant and Aquinas ground moral action in reason and will; however, this seems to be the end of the similarity in their approaches with respect to the role of reason and will in moral action. The goal of this essay is to show that Aquinas’ notion of the will as the rational appetite is superior to Kant’s notion of good will in providing the foundation for moral action. To this effect, I analyze the relationship between will and reason in their moral philosophies. I discuss Kant’s notion of will in both its moral and phenomenal modes, and Aquinas’ notion of will as the rational appetite and of human act. I argue that Aquinas’s notion of will and moral act is superior to that of Kant for several reasons. First and foremost, the notion of morally worthy action accommodates human nature with its inclinations, tendencies, and desires. It is not divorced from human physical and emotional nature. Second, in contrast to Kant’s will, Aquinas’s will retains its own identity. That is, it avails itself of reason’s search for truth and meaning, yet it does not collapse into reason, specifically logic. Third, Aquinas’ will is dynamic. In contrast to Kant’s, which in order to be moral simply follows the laws of logic, Aquinas’ will desires the good and propels a person to action. Finally, Aquinas’ notion of human act, in the sense that it involves both the counsel of reason and will’s capacity to desire the good, offers a more holistic understanding of human moral act and its possible consequences. In contrast to Kant’s will’s rigid command to obey the law, Aquinas’ notion of will and human act also gives reasons why we need to be moral. We must act morally, not only because our action would otherwise be self-contradictory or not live up to the letter of the law, but because our choices and our actions have real consequences in the world.Both Kant and Aquinas ground moral action in reason and will; however, this seems to be the end of the similarity in their approaches with respect to the role of reason and will in moral action. The goal of this essay is to show that Aquinas’ notion of the will as the rational appetite is superior to Kant’s notion of good will in providing the foundation for moral action. To this effect, I analyze the relationship between will and reason in their moral philosophies. I discuss Kant’s notion of will in both its moral and phenomenal modes, and Aquinas’ notion of will as the rational appetite and of human act. I argue that Aquinas’s notion of will and moral act is superior to that of Kant for several reasons. First and foremost, the notion of morally worthy action accommodates human nature with its inclinations, tendencies, and desires. It is not divorced from human physical and emotional nature. Second, in contrast to Kant’s will, Aquinas’s will retains its own identity. That is, it avails itself of reason’s search for truth and meaning, yet it does not collapse into reason, specifically logic. Third, Aquinas’ will is dynamic. In contrast to Kant’s, which in order to be moral simply follows the laws of logic, Aquinas’ will desires the good and propels a person to action. Finally, Aquinas’ notion of human act, in the sense that it involves both the counsel of reason and will’s capacity to desire the good, offers a more holistic understanding of human moral act and its possible consequences. In contrast to Kant’s will’s rigid command to obey the law, Aquinas’ notion of will and human act also gives reasons why we need to be moral. We must act morally, not only because our action would otherwise be self-contradictory or not live up to the letter of the law, but because our choices and our actions have real consequences in the world

Measurements of the Young’s modulus of hydroxide catalysis bonds, and the effect on thermal noise in ground-based gravitational wave detectors

With the outstanding results from the detection and observation of gravitational waves from coalescing black holes and neutron star inspirals, it is essential that pathways to further improve the sensitivities of the LIGO and VIRGO detectors are explored. There are a number of factors that potentially limit the sensitivities of the detectors. One such factor is thermal noise, a component of which results from the mechanical loss in the bond material between the silica fibre suspensions and the test mass mirrors. To calculate its magnitude, the Young’s modulus of the bond material has to be known with reasonable accuracy. In this paper we present a new combination of ultrasonic technology and Bayesian analysis to measure the Young’s modulus of hydroxide catalysis bonds between fused silica substrates. Using this novel technique, we measure the bond Young’s modulus to be 18.5 ± 2.0 2.3     GPa . We show that by applying this value to thermal noise models of bonded test masses with suitable attachment geometries, a reduction in suspension thermal noise consistent with an overall design sensitivity improvement allows a factor of 5 increase in event rate to be achieved

Optical Characterisation of Hydroxide Catalysed Bonds Applied to Phosphate Glass

We apply the Hydroxide Catalysis Bonding (HCB) technique to phosphate glass and measure the reflectivity and Light Induced Damage Threshold (LITD) of the newly formed interface. HCB is a room temperature, high performing process which was designed for astronomical research glass assemblies and played a key role in the detection of gravitational waves, a breakthrough in contemporary science. The bonds have numerous assets including mechanical strength, stability, no outgassing and resistance to contamination which are of high interest in the precision optics industry. However only little research has been done on their optical properties and mostly on silica based materials. In this paper, we use HCB to bond phosphate glass at room temperature with the goal of designing composite components for solid state laser gain media. We change the solution parameters to identify how they influence the final properties of the bonds: the LIDT at 1535 nm in long pulse regime and the reflectivity at 532 nm are investigated. The measurement of the incidence dependent reflectance allows estimating the thickness and refractive index of the bond in a non destructive process. The best performing set of parameters yields a LIDT of 1.6 GW/cm2 (16 J/cm2) and a reflectivity below 0.03 % which makes it suitable for use in high power lasers. The bond thickness is derived both from Scanning Electron Microscopy and the reflectivity measurements and is in the range of 50-150 nm depending on the parameters. Finally, the bonds survive cutting and polishing which is promising for manufacturing purpose

Strength of hydroxide catalysis bonds between sapphire, silicon, and fused silica as a function of time

Hydroxide catalysis bonds have formed an integral part of ground-based gravitational wave (GW) observatories since the 1990s. By allowing the creation of quasimonolithic fused silica mirror suspensions in detectors such as GEO600 and Advanced LIGO, their use was crucial to the first ever direct detection of gravitational waves. Following these successes, this bonding technique has been included in advanced next generation cryogenic detector designs. Currently, they are used to create quasimonolithic crystalline sapphire suspensions in the KAGRA detector. They are also planned for use in silicon suspensions of future detectors such as the Einstein Telescope. In this paper we report how the strength of hydroxide catalysis bonds evolves over time, and compare the curing rates of bonds as they form between fused silica substrates to those between sapphire to sapphire and silicon to silicon substrates. For bonds between all three types of substrate material we show that newly formed bonds exhibit slightly higher breaking stresses than bonds cured for longer periods of time. We find that the strength stabilizes at ≥ 15     MPa for bonds cured for up to 30 weeks (7 months). This finding is important to future cryogenic GW detector design as it is crucial to ensure the long term integrity of the suspension interfaces. Monitoring the strength of bonds that have been allowed to cure for shorter lengths of time can also shed light on the chemistry of bond formation

Anticholinergic burden (prognostic factor) for prediction of dementia or cognitive decline in older adults with no known cognitive syndrome (Review)

Funding Information: National Institute on Aging, NIH Grants, and the Branta Foundation Funding Information: We followed best practice in design, conduct, and reporting of our prognosis review as detailed in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions (Higgins 2019). The review was supported by the Cochrane Prognostic Methods Group, partners within the Cochrane Mental Health and Neuroscience Network, and the UK National Institute for Health Research Complex Reviews Support Unit (NIHR CRSU). Funding Information: American Philosophical Society, the National Institute on Aging grants, and by the Illinois Department of Public Health to DAB Funding Information: This protocol was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), via Cochrane Infrastructure funding to the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement group. The views and opinions expressed therein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Systematic Reviews Programme, NIHR, National Health Service or the Department of Health Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2021 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Localized immune surveillance of primary melanoma in the skin deciphered through executable modeling

While skin is a site of active immune surveillance, primary melanomas often escape detection. Here, we have developed an in silico model to determine the local cross-talk between melanomas and Langerhans cells (LCs), the primary antigen-presenting cells at the site of melanoma development. The model predicts that melanomas fail to activate LC migration to lymph nodes until tumors reach a critical size, which is determined by a positive TNF-α feedback loop within melanomas, in line with our observations of murine tumors. In silico drug screening, supported by subsequent experimental testing, shows that treatment of primary tumors with MAPK pathway inhibitors may further prevent LC migration. In addition, our in silico model predicts treatment combinations that bypass LC dysfunction. In conclusion, our combined approach of in silico and in vivo studies suggests a molecular mechanism that explains how early melanomas develop under the radar of immune surveillance by LC

Polyimide Cellulose Nanocrystal Composite Aerogels

Polyimide (PI) aerogels are highly porous solids having low density, high porosity and low thermal conductivity with good mechanical properties. They are ideal for various applications including use in antenna and insulation such as inflatable decelerators used in entry, decent and landing operations. Recently, attention has been focused on stimuli responsive materials such as cellulose nano crystals (CNCs). CNCs are environmentally friendly, bio-renewable, commonly found in plants and the dermis of sea tunicates, and potentially low cost. This study is to examine the effects of CNC on the polyimide aerogels. The CNC used in this project are extracted from mantle of a sea creature called tunicates. A series of polyimide cellulose nanocrystal composite aerogels has been fabricated having 0-13 wt of CNC. Results will be discussed