3,493 research outputs found
Towards a Supportive Technological Environment for Digital Art
This paper presents the case for extending programming languages to support digital artists engaged in technologically-innovative work. The anticipated result is an "environment for building environments", which will need to satisfy certain technological requirements according to the areas in which digital artists most need creative support. A review of these areas is undertaken, and a proposal is made to capture the specific areas in which digital artists most need technological support
Supportive methodology and technology for creating interactive art
University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Information Technology.Computation, as a medium for programming, supports scientists, mathematicians and
âalgorithmically-creativeâ (Amabile, 1996) workers very well. âDeepâ programming environments,
with few, or "exible constraints, are designed for these kinds of computation.
However, most artists, designers and other âheuristically-creativeâ (Amabile, 1996) workers
must make do with more âgentleâ programming environments, such as Max/MSP or Processing,
which support particular conceptual spaces well. Yet once the constraints of those
spaces are come up against, they are found to be rigid.
The new media world is, by now, used to seeing interdisciplinary work that involves artists
and technologists in collaboration, sometimes in response to this difficulty. These collaborations
combine the power of artistic modalities of thinking with the full capabilities of
computational media, but still the computing medium must be mediated for the artist by
the technologist. Such mediation is at risk of reinforcing boundaries between artists and
technologists, and denies artists âhands-onâ creativity in the medium, which is not only
frustrating but also can destroy artistic meaning (Candy & Hori, 2003).
How can we make computational media better support creative workers, in and out of
collaborations? My answer stems from the roles of constraints which surround conceptual
spaces, but which can support creativity only as far as they can be changed in response to a
change in conceptual spaces (Boden, 2004). Computation is an attractive medium because
potentially supports highly changeable constraints. However, this potential is not realisedâ
there are plenty of constraints within computing today which are neither inherent
nor useful for creativity, but imposed as a result of industrial practices which are decreasingly
relevant in todayâs techno-society. An example is the constraint around every compiled
program preventing any modification of that program. Since these constraints cannot
be changed in response to changing conceptual spaces, creativity is limited.
To remedy this technological disjunction between conceptual spaces and supportive media,
I have made recommendations for future computing systems in which imposed constraints
are not rigid. For example, if someone wishes to explore or change a particular constraint
in such a computing system, they can âlift the hoodâ and discover whatâs happening and
change it, recursing if necessary to the level of computing fundamentals, but using a similar
interface paradigm to that which they have already been using. Such a computing system
allows people to change a computing medium to fit with their changing conceptual
spaces.
To illuminate the accompanying social issues of supporting interdisciplinary collaboration,
I carried out a grounded theory inquiry into the roles of collaborating expertsâpredominantly
artist and programmerâworking in interactive art collaborations. By studying firsthand
reports and conducting interviews, I was able to build a rich theory of technologyâs
role in the collaborative process. Most importantly, I found that non-programming artists
prefer to use shared language and boundary objects (Fischer & Ostwald, 2003) that are also
meaningful in computing terms. An example is when a programmer constructs âcomputational
toysâ, which sit between conceptual spaces and thus can be manipulated to create
technical, aesthetic and computational meaning simultaneously.
To evaluate these findings, I synthesised the computing recommendations and the toymaking
methodology, and examined prototypical examples of them in the light of a realworld
art collaboration called Cardiomorphologies v. 2. The collaboration involved the development
of several computational toys in the Max/MSP computing system, and also a
technology for quickly creating toys
Creating affective visualisations for a Physiologically interactive artwork
This paper describes an action research project based on the process of designing the visualisation of heart and breath rate data for the interactive artwork Cardiomorphologies. The project aimed to realise the affective goals of the artist as closely a
Treatment Options for Paediatric Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (ALCL): Current Standard and beyond.
Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK)-positive Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (ALCL), remains one of the most curable cancers in the paediatric setting; multi-agent chemotherapy cures approximately 65-90% of patients. Over the last two decades, major efforts have focused on improving the survival rate by intensification of combination chemotherapy regimens and employing stem cell transplantation for chemotherapy-resistant patients. More recently, several new and 'renewed' agents have offered the opportunity for a change in the paradigm for the management of both chemo-sensitive and chemo-resistant forms of ALCL. The development of ALK inhibitors following the identification of the EML4-ALK fusion gene in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) has opened new possibilities for ALK-positive ALCL. The uniform expression of CD30 on the cell surface of ALCL has given the opportunity for anti-CD30 antibody therapy. The re-evaluation of vinblastine, which has shown remarkable activity as a single agent even in the face of relapsed disease, has led to the consideration of a revised approach to frontline therapy. The advent of immune therapies such as checkpoint inhibition has provided another option for the treatment of ALCL. In fact, the number of potential new agents now presents a real challenge to the clinical community that must prioritise those thought to offer the most promise for the future. In this review, we will focus on the current status of paediatric ALCL therapy, explore how new and 'renewed' agents are re-shaping the therapeutic landscape for ALCL, and identify the strategies being employed in the next generation of clinical trials
Resistance to Targeted Agents Used to Treat Paediatric ALK-Positive ALCL.
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is the third most common malignancy diagnosed in children. The vast majority of paediatric NHL are either Burkitt lymphoma (BL), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), or lymphoblastic lymphoma (LL). Multi-agent chemotherapy is used to treat all of these types of NHL, and survival is over 90% but the chemotherapy regimens are intensive, and outcomes are generally poor if relapse occurs. Therefore, targeted therapies are of interest as potential solutions to these problems. However, the major problem with all targeted agents is the development of resistance. Mechanisms of resistance are not well understood, but increased knowledge will facilitate optimal management strategies through improving our understanding of when to select each targeted agent, and when a combinatorial approach may be helpful. This review summarises currently available knowledge regarding resistance to targeted therapies used in paediatric anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive ALCL. Specifically, we outline where gaps in knowledge exist, and further investigation is required in order to find a solution to the clinical problem of drug resistance in ALCL
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Tradition and Innovation in Classical Sociology: Tenth Anniversary Report of JCS
Perhaps the very idea of âclassical sociologyâ is a contradiction in terms; sociology was originally that social science peculiarly concerned with the study of the processes of modernization and the condition of modernity, that is, with the critical examination of âpost-traditionalâ developments and hence âpost-classicalâ forms of social organization. Its concerns have broadened subsequently, but the focus of sociology remains on the exploration of the nature and development of social structure and social action in the post-traditional world. In the nineteenth century, sociologists invented new concepts and experimented with new methods to study the emergence of unprecedented social phenomena and the rise of a type of society that was variously called âmodern societyâ, âindustrial societyâ, and âcapitalist societyâ. In the twentieth century, there was a further elaboration of key sociological concepts, and it became increasingly popular to proclaim the rise of yet another form of society, described as âpost-industrial societyâ, âlate modern societyâ, âpost-modern societyâ, or ânetwork societyâ. In the current century, the idea of globalization has swept everything before it, leading to the notion that âsocietyâ has now been replaced by flows and networks of people, objects, and ideas. With the transition from traditional to modern societies, the integrative power of Gemeinschaft began to compete with the systemic power of Gesellschaft; with the transition from modern to late modern societies, the local horizons of our Lebenswelt appear to be increasingly shaped by the deterritorialized networks of the Weltgesellschaft. If we are âpost-traditionalâ, surely we are also âpost-classicalâ. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that many contemporary sociologists have some difficulty accepting the very idea of classical sociology
Denitrification and nitrous oxide emissions from riparian forests soils exposed to prolonged nitrogen runoff
Compared to upland forests, riparian forest soils have greater potential to remove nitrate (NO3) from agricultural run-off through denitrification. It is unclear, however, whether prolonged exposure of riparian soils to nitrogen (N) loading will affect the rate of denitrification and its end products. This research assesses the rate of denitrification and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from riparian forest soils exposed to prolonged nutrient run-off from plant nurseries and compares these to similar forest soils not exposed to nutrient run-off. Nursery run-off also contains high levels of phosphate (PO4). Since there are conflicting reports on the impact of PO4 on the activity of denitrifying microbes, the impact of PO4 on such activity was also investigated. Bulk and intact soil cores were collected from N-exposed and non-exposed forests to determine denitrification and N2O emission rates, whereas denitrification potential was determined using soil slurries. Compared to the non-amended treatment, denitrification rate increased 2.7- and 3.4-fold when soil cores collected from both N-exposed and non-exposed sites were amended with 30 and 60 ÎŒg NO3-N g-1 soil, respectively. Net N2O emissions were 1.5 and 1.7 times higher from the N-exposed sites compared to the non-exposed sites at 30 and 60 ÎŒg NO3-N g-1 soil amendment rates, respectively. Similarly, denitrification potential increased 17 times in response to addition of 15 ÎŒg NO3-N g-1 in soil slurries. The addition of PO4 (5 ÎŒg PO4âP g-1) to soil slurries and intact cores did not affect denitrification rates. These observations suggest that prolonged N loading did not affect the denitrification potential of the riparian forest soils; however, it did result in higher N2O emissions compared to emission rates from non-exposed forests
Sri Lankan tsunami refugees: a cross sectional study of the relationships between housing conditions and self-reported health
BACKGROUND: On the 26th December 2004 the Asian tsunami devastated the Sri Lankan coastline. More than two years later, over 14,500 families were still living in transitional shelters. This study compares the health of the internally displaced people (IDP), living in transitional camps with those in permanent housing projects provided by government and non-government organisations in Sri Lanka. METHODS: This study was conducted in seven transitional camps and five permanent housing projects in the south west of Sri Lanka. Using an interviewer-led questionnaire, data on the IDPs' self-reported health and housing conditions were collected from 154 participants from transitional camps and 147 participants from permanent housing projects. Simple tabulation with non-parametric tests and logistic regression were used to identify and analyse relationships between housing conditions and the reported prevalence of specific symptoms. RESULTS: Analysis showed that living conditions were significantly worse in transitional camps than in permanent housing projects for all factors investigated, except 'having a leaking roof'. Transitional camp participants scored significantly lower on self-perceived overall health scores than those living in housing projects. After controlling for gender, age and marital status, living in a transitional camp compared to a housing project was found to be a significant risk factor for the following symptoms; coughs OR: 3.53 (CI: 2.11-5.89), stomach ache 4.82 (2.19-10.82), headache 5.20 (3.09-8.76), general aches and pains 6.44 (3.67-11.33) and feeling generally unwell 2.28 (2.51-7.29). Within transitional camp data, the only condition shown to be a significant risk factor for any symptom was household population density, which increased the risk of stomach aches 1.40 (1.09-1.79) and headaches 1.33 (1.01-1.77). CONCLUSION: Internally displaced people living in transitional camps are a vulnerable population and specific interventions need to be targeted at this population to address the health inequalities that they report to be experiencing. Further studies need to be conducted to establish which aspects of their housing environment predispose them to poorer health
X-ray Absorption and Reflection in Active Galactic Nuclei
X-ray spectroscopy offers an opportunity to study the complex mixture of
emitting and absorbing components in the circumnuclear regions of active
galactic nuclei, and to learn about the accretion process that fuels AGN and
the feedback of material to their host galaxies. We describe the spectral
signatures that may be studied and review the X-ray spectra and spectral
variability of active galaxies, concentrating on progress from recent Chandra,
XMM-Newton and Suzaku data for local type 1 AGN. We describe the evidence for
absorption covering a wide range of column densities, ionization and dynamics,
and discuss the growing evidence for partial-covering absorption from data at
energies > 10 keV. Such absorption can also explain the observed X-ray spectral
curvature and variability in AGN at lower energies and is likely an important
factor in shaping the observed properties of this class of source.
Consideration of self-consistent models for local AGN indicates that X-ray
spectra likely comprise a combination of absorption and reflection effects from
material originating within a few light days of the black hole as well as on
larger scales. It is likely that AGN X-ray spectra may be strongly affected by
the presence of disk-wind outflows that are expected in systems with high
accretion rates, and we describe models that attempt to predict the effects of
radiative transfer through such winds, and discuss the prospects for new data
to test and address these ideas.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Review. 58
pages, 9 figures. V2 has fixed an error in footnote
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