EXISTING WITHOUT PERMISSION: A VISUAL RHETORICAL ANALYSIS ON BANKSY’S NOLA CHILDREN AND THE BETRAYAL OF AUTHORITY

This study examines eight images by the world renowned—and incognito—graffiti street artist known only as Banksy. The eight images are all of lone children; fourteen paintings comprise the total of Banksy’s 2008 visit to post-Katrina New Orleans. For the research, the eight images of children are referred to collectively as the “NOLA Children Series.” Banksy critics and fans have provided their own names for each piece: Simpsons Boy, Umbrella Girl, Fridge Kite, Levee Boy, Life Preserver Swing, Girl on Stool, and Trumpet Boy 1 & 2. The primary research objective was to understand Banksy’s motives for creating these eight “dramas” as he did. Secondarily, the research also advances the interpretative framework for Visual Rhetoric. Close Textual Analysis and Kenneth Burke\u27s Dramatistic Pentad combine as methods informed by scholarship in visual design and visual rhetoric. The study concludes by noting Banksy’s condemnation of authority figures for their role in betraying the children of New Orleans. Recent studies confirm that the failed levees and failed leadership of 2005 still haunt those who were children when Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Southeast Louisiana

Influence of Aromatic Structure on the Thermal Behaviour of Lignin

Lignin, a natural biopolymer and abundant by-product, is a particularly promising feedstock for carbon-based materials and a potentially sustainable alternative to phenolic resins, which are typically derived from crude oil. The source and method used to isolate lignin have a large impact on the thermal properties of the polymer, and can affect resultant materials prepared from lignin. Previous investigations into lignin characterisation often utilise a variety of feedstocks and isolation methods, which can make robust comparisons challenging. We present a systematic investigation into the chemical composition of lignins extracted using an identical Organosolv isolation method but from different biomass feedstocks: hemp hurds, eucalyptus chips, flax straw, rice husk and pine. We show how the aromatic structure of lignin can affect the thermal behaviour of the polymer, which correlates to the structure of resulting carbons. Carbons from lignins with a high syringyl unit content display a pronounced foaming behaviour which, on activation, results in a high-surface area material with hierarchical porosity

Abel-Jacobi maps for hypersurfaces and non commutative Calabi-Yau's

It is well known that the Fano scheme of lines on a cubic 4-fold is a symplectic variety. We generalize this fact by constructing a closed p-form with p=2n-4 on the Fano scheme of lines on a (2n-2)-dimensional hypersurface Y of degree n. We provide several definitions of this form - via the Abel-Jacobi map, via Hochschild homology, and via the linkage class, and compute it explicitly for n = 4. In the special case of a Pfaffian hypersurface Y we show that the Fano scheme is birational to a certain moduli space of sheaves on a p-dimensional Calabi--Yau variety X arising naturally in the context of homological projective duality, and that the constructed form is induced by the holomorphic volume form on X. This remains true for a general non Pfaffian hypersurface but the dual Calabi-Yau becomes non commutative.Comment: 34 pages; exposition of Hochschild homology expanded; references added; introduction re-written; some imrecisions, typos and the orbit diagram in the last section correcte

Conformal proper times according to the Woodhouse causal axiomatics of relativistic spacetimes

On the basis of the Woodhouse causal axiomatics, we show that conformal proper times and an extra variable in addition to those of space and time, precisely and physically identified from experimental examples, together give a physical justification for the `chronometric hypothesis' of general relativity. Indeed, we show that, with a lack of these latter two ingredients, no clock paradox solution exists in which the clock and message functions are solely at the origin of the asymmetry. These proper times originate from a given conformal structure of the spacetime when ascribing different compatible projective structures to each Woodhouse particle, and then, each defines a specific Weylian sheaf structure. In addition, the proper time parameterizations, as two point functions, cannot be defined irrespective of the processes in the relative changes of physical characteristics. These processes are included via path-dependent conformal scale factors, which act like sockets for any kind of physical interaction and also represent the values of the variable associated with the extra dimension. As such, the differential aging differs far beyond the first and second clock effects in Weyl geometries, with the latter finally appearing to not be suitable.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figure

Gemini Principles

Up to 30% of annual spend across the built environment is lost in inefficiencies related to poor quality data1. This is seen in lost productivity due to underperforming economic and social infrastructure. Effective information management will enable better decisions, leading to financial savings, improved performance and service, and better outcomes for business and society per whole-life pound. To make this possible an information management framework is necessary. This paper seeks to build consensus on foundational definitions and guiding values – the Gemini Principles – and to begin enabling alignment on the approach to information management across the built environment.Funded by the Centre for Digital Built Britai

Massive expansion of SCA2 with autonomic dysfunction, retinitis pigmentosa, and infantile spasms

OBJECTIVE: To provide clinical data on a cohort of 6 patients with massive expansion (>200 CAG repeats) of spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) and investigate possible pathways of pathogenesis using bioinformatics analysis of ATXN2 networks. METHODS: We present data on 6 patients with massive expansion of SCA2 who presented in infancy with variable combinations of hypotonia, global developmental delay, infantile spasms, and retinitis pigmentosa. ATXN2 is known to interact with a network of synaptic proteins. To investigate pathways of pathogenesis, we performed bioinformatics analysis on ATXN2 combined with known genes associated with infantile spasms, retinitis pigmentosa, and synaptic function. RESULTS: All patients had a progressive encephalopathy with autonomic dysfunction, 4 had retinitis pigmentosa, and 3 had infantile spasms. The bioinformatics analysis led to several interesting findings. First, an interaction between ATXN2 and SYNJ1 may account for the development of retinitis pigmentosa. Second, dysfunction of postsynaptic vesicle endocytosis may be important in children with this progressive encephalopathy. Infantile spasms may be associated with interactions between ATXN2 and the postsynaptic structural proteins MAGI2 and SPTAN1. CONCLUSIONS: Severe phenotype in children with massive expansion of SCA2 may be due to a functional deficit in protein networks in the postsynapse, specifically involving vesicle endocytosis

Neuroscience, Ethics, and National Security: The State of the Art

Military involvement and research in neuroscience generates unique ethical, legal, and social issues that require careful elucidation and consideration in order to align the potentially conflicting needs of national defense, public interest, and scientific progress