Cities as Sets: Narrative Eye to Urban Design A course case study in combining art, design and media

The article presents a multidisciplinary workshop format to enforce dialogue between the disciplines of art, design and media in audiovisual ethnographical study of urban environment and its design. The City Sets workshop uses the metaphor of ‘city as stage’ in order to investigate critically and expressively the design elements, visual languages and narratives embedded in cities. By a multiple point-of-view audiovisual production, the participants aim to reveal narratives that define our roles on the 'stage'. In the follow-up essay writing, they consider the significance of their own artistic point of view to urban planning and design values that surround us. Reviewing the theoretical backdrop and results from the first experimental workshop in 2010, we present developments for the next workshops organized in the context of the Aalto University World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 programme in Helsinki and Paris. We argue that artistic observations through multiple narrative points of view enrich the understanding of our life in urban environment, as well as the role of design in it

City Sets – Narrating Visual Urban Identities

City Sets - Visual Urban Identities was a workshop and a seminar arranged for post-graduate students in graphic design, new media, photography and architecture in November 2010. The aim was to research and discuss designs, artifacts and visual narratives embedded in an urban environment. Photo-observation, video recording and interviews were used to collect pictorial material and to investigate modes of visualizing information, identities, promotion and narratives in cities. City Sets is a metaphor that refers to cities as stages where passers-by are seen as actors. Architecture in an urban environment tells history and frames places, which can be seen as stages for various scenes and encounters to come about. Advertising and signage as city sets influence the appearance of a place, although their functions are information and promotion. Arts on streets have developed new modes for participation questioning the restrictions and rights to use public space. Anthropologists have used photography and filming for documentation since 1800s and photo-observation is associated with ethnography. For artists and designers it is a method to explore and observe the world and collect material to create new artworks. In City Sets project these two aspects were combined. In collaborative fieldwork the students documented urban scenes and collected material, which they developed further and created multi-linear visual narratives. The material was arranged and presented online by the City Sets Multilinear media player application designed for the project. The paper presents the workshop model as a visual method applicable for research and for media design

Narrative exploration via media art

Mika 'Lumi' Tuomola introduces a selected chronological collection of Media Lab's, Crucible Studio research group's artistic productions. The Art of Storytelling in New Media research group, Crucible Studio, was originally established in 2002 as a collaboration of the Media Lab with the Media Centre LUMB, when I was the visiting artist at Media Lab Helsinki. As the lead author of the artistic and practice-based research studio proposal, I also started to head it until now. The studio per se does not focus on (Media) Art, but on any generative, interactive and enactive use of narrative in New Media production and design. However, in the investigation of storytelling and drama, experimental Media Art productions - while usually maintaining their standing as art works of their own right as well- have been and are useful tools of exploration via research questions like: • How to bring both designers' I authors' and users' I participants' internal intentions into a dramatically interesting dialogue/chorus within a mediated interaction environment? • What kinds of media database, system, interaction and narrative logics may be able to generate a dramatic interactive experience with coherent audiovisual language? • What are the ethics of (narrative) aesthetics, when designed participatory processes orchestrate multiple points of view? • How have the audience genre expectations evolved (e.g. via games and social media) considering what an interactive/enactive drama/art experience is and how does it influence our design work

Influence of chicory roots /Cichorium intybus L) on boar taint in entire male pigs and female pigs

It is known that pure inulin a fructooligosaccharide extracted from chicory roots can: – reduce boar taint (skatole in backfat and blood) – reduce parasite infection levels when added to specially composed experimental diets • However, the entire chicory roots may, in comparison to inulin: – reduce boar taint more effectively – improve the taste of cooked meat from both male and female pigs – be more effective against parasites when added to normal diet types – contain secondary metabolites that add to the effect of the inulin – be a cheaper solutio

Measuring psychosocial stress with heart rate variability-based methods in different health and age groups

Objective. Autonomic nervous system function and thereby bodily stress and recovery reactions may be assessed by wearable devices measuring heart rate (HR) and its variability (HRV). So far, the validity of HRV-based stress assessments has been mainly studied in healthy populations. In this study, we determined how psychosocial stress affects physiological and psychological stress responses in both young (18-30 years) and middle-aged (45-64 years) healthy individuals as well as in patients with arterial hypertension and/or either prior evidence of prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. We also studied how an HRV-based stress index (Relax-Stress Intensity, RSI) relates to perceived stress (PS) and cortisol (CRT) responses during psychosocial stress. Approach. A total of 197 participants were divided into three groups: (1) healthy young (HY, N = 63), (2) healthy middle-aged (HM, N = 61) and (3) patients with cardiometabolic risk factors (Pts, N = 73, 32-65 years). The participants underwent a group version of Trier Social Stress Test (TSST-G). HR, HRV (quantified as root mean square of successive differences of R-R intervals, RMSSD), RSI, PS, and salivary CRT were measured regularly during TSST-G and a subsequent recovery period. Main results. All groups showed significant stress reactions during TSST-G as indicated by significant responses of HR, RMSSD, RSI, PS, and salivary CRT. Between-group differences were also observed in all measures. Correlation and regression analyses implied RSI being the strongest predictor of CRT response, while HR was more closely associated with PS. Significance. The HRV-based stress index mirrors responses of CRT, which is an independent marker for physiological stress, around TSST-G. Thus, the HRV-based stress index may be used to quantify physiological responses to psychosocial stress across various health and age groups.Peer reviewe

Large scale genome-wide association and LDLA mapping study identifies QTLs for boar taint and related sex steroids

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Boar taint is observed in a high proportion of uncastrated male pigs and is characterized by an unpleasant odor/flavor in cooked meat, primarily caused by elevated levels of androstenone and skatole. Androstenone is a steroid produced in the testis in parallel with biosynthesis of other sex steroids like testosterone and estrogens. This represents a challenge when performing selection against androstenone in breeding programs, without simultaneously decreasing levels of other steroids. The aim of this study was to use high-density genome wide association (GWA) in combination with linkage disequilibrium-linkage analysis (LDLA) to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with boar taint compounds and related sex steroids in commercial Landrace (n = 1,251) and Duroc (n = 918) breeds.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Altogether, 14 genome wide significant (GWS) QTL regions for androstenone in subcutaneous fat were obtained from the LDLA study in Landrace and 14 GWS QTL regions in Duroc. LDLA analysis revealed that 7 of these QTL regions, located on SSC 1, 2, 3, 7 and 15, were obtained in both breeds. All 14 GWS androstenone QTLs in Landrace are also affecting the estrogens at chromosome wise significance (CWS) or GWS levels, while in Duroc, 3 of the 14 QTLs affect androstenone without affecting any of the estrogens. For skatole, 10 and 4 QTLs were GWS in the LDLA analysis for Landrace and Duroc respectively, with 4 of these detected in both breeds. The GWS QTLs for skatole obtained by LDLA are located at SSC 1, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13 and 14.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the first report applying the Porcine 60 K SNP array for simultaneous analysis of boar taint compounds and related sex hormones, using both GWA and LDLA approaches. Several QTLs are involved in regulation of androstenone and skatole, and most of the QTLs for androstenone are also affecting the levels of estrogens. Seven QTLs for androstenone were detected in one breed and confirmed in the other, i.e. in an independent sample, although the majority of QTLs are breed specific. Most QTLs for skatole do not negatively affect other sex hormones and should be easier to implement into the breeding scheme.</p

Transcript profiling of candidate genes in testis of pigs exhibiting large differences in androstenone levels

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Boar taint is an unpleasant odor and flavor of the meat and occurs in a high proportion of uncastrated male pigs. Androstenone, a steroid produced in testis and acting as a sex pheromone regulating reproductive function in female pigs, is one of the main compounds responsible for boar taint. The primary goal of the present investigation was to determine the differential gene expression of selected candidate genes related to levels of androstenone in pigs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Altogether 2560 boars from the Norwegian Landrace and Duroc populations were included in this study. Testicle samples from the 192 boars with most extreme high or low levels of androstenone in fat were used for RNA extraction, and 15 candidate genes were selected and analyzed by real-competitive PCR analysis. The genes Cytochrome P450 c17 (<it>CYP17A1</it>), Steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (<it>STAR</it>), Aldo-keto reductase family 1 member C4 (<it>AKR1C4</it>), Short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase family member 4 (<it>DHRS4</it>), Ferritin light polypeptide (<it>FTL</it>), Sulfotransferase family 2A, dehydroepiandrosterone-preferring member 1 (<it>SULT2A1</it>), Cytochrome P450 subfamily XIA polypeptide 1 (<it>CYP11A1</it>), Cytochrome b5 (<it>CYB5A</it>), and 17-beta-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase IV (<it>HSD17B4</it>) were all found to be significantly (P < 0.05) up-regulated in high androstenone boars in both Duroc and Landrace. Furthermore, Cytochrome P450 c19A2 (<it>CYP19A2</it>) was down-regulated and progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (<it>PGRMC1</it>) was up-regulated in high-androstenone Duroc boars only, while <it>CYP21 </it>was significantly down-regulated (2.5) in high-androstenone Landrace only. The genes Nuclear Receptor co-activator 4 (<it>NCOA4</it>), Sphingomyrlin phosphodiesterase 1 (<it>SMPD1</it>) and 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (<it>HSD3B</it>) were not significantly differentially expressed in any breeds. Additionally, association studies were performed for the genes with one or more detected SNPs. Association between SNP and androstenone level was observed in <it>CYB5A </it>only, suggesting cis-regulation of the differential transcription in this gene.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A large pig material of highly extreme androstenone levels is investigated. The current study contributes to the knowledge about which genes that is differentially expressed regard to the levels of androstenone in pigs. Results in this paper suggest that several genes are important in the regulation of androstenone level in boars and warrant further evaluation of the above mentioned candidate genes, including analyses in different breeds, identification of causal mutations and possible gene interactions.</p