Toward An Eco-Egalitarian University

This article argues for a political transformation and reorganization of the university so that it is capable of challenging the hierarchy of power in a neoliberal society. Faculty democracy, administrative accountability to faculty, and the education of students to become critical, thinking citizens would be a major part of this reorganization. This article first appeared in The Contemporary Condition: http://contemporarycondition.blogspot.com/2014/07/toward-eco-egalitarian-university.htm

Suffering, Justice, and the Politics of Becoming

Also CSST Working Paper #113.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/51304/1/540.pd

The Practice of Spiritual Direction, rev. and updated ed.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Liebert

Locus of Control, Knowledge of Ethics, and Perceived Ethicality as Influenced by an Authority Figure

The present study investigated the relationship between a subject\u27s locus of control, knowledge of psychological ethical research principles, and perceived ethicality of a psychological research proposal as influenced by an authority figure. Subjects were asked to judge the ethicality of a research proposal, which half were led to believe had been previously deemed unethical by an authority figure. No mention was made of the authority figure\u27s viewpoint to the other subjects. The major finding was that the variability in ratings in ethicality of the research proposal tended to diminished from the no mention to the rejection manipulation in those of all levels of knowledge of ethics and in those of relatively external locus of control, while those of relatively internal locus of control showed virtually no change in the variability of their ratings of ethicality between the no mention and rejection categories. Some suggestions were made for future research in this area

Freedom, Teleodynamism, Creativity

After presenting a critique of both negative and positive freedom this essay pursues the relation between creativity and freedom, drawing upon Foucault, Deleuze and Nietzsche to do so.  Once you have understood Nietzsche’s reading of a culturally infused nest of drives in a self, the task becomes easier.  A drive is not merely a force pushing forward; it is also a simple mode of perception and intention that pushes forward and enters into creative relations with other drives when activated by an event.  You can also understand more sharply how the Foucauldian tactics of the self work.  We can now carry this insight into the Deleuzian territory of micropolitics and collective action by reviewing his work on flashbacks and “the powers of the false.” If a flashback in film pulls us back to a bifurcation point where two paths were possible and one was taken, the powers of the false refer to the subliminal role the path not taken can play in the formation of creative action.  As you pursue these themes you see that neither old, organic notions of belonging to the world nor do negative notions of detachment as such do the work needed.  Deleuze’s notion of freedom carries us to the idea of cultivating “belief” in a world of periodic punctuations.  The latter are essential to creativity and incompatible with organic belonging.  They are also indispensable supports of a positive politics today

The galaxy counts-in-cells distribution from the SDSS

We determine the galaxy counts-in-cells distribution from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) for 3D spherical cells in redshift space as well as for 2D projected cells. We find that cosmic variance in the SDSS causes the counts-in-cells distributions in different quadrants to differ from each other by up to 20%. We also find that within this cosmic variance, the overall galaxy counts-in-cells distribution agrees with both the gravitational quasi-equilibrium distribution and the negative binomial distribution. We also find that brighter galaxies are more strongly clustered than if they were randomly selected from a larger complete sample that includes galaxies of all luminosities. The results suggest that bright galaxies could be in dark matter haloes separated by less than ~10 Mpc/h.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Revised version with referee suggestions and corrected typo

Enhanced single-photon imaging

Large-format single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) detector arrays are becoming commonly used for applications such as 2D and 3D imaging, fluorescence imaging and astronomical spectroscopy. This thesis addresses a number of limitations inherent to SPAD detector arrays which prevent a wider adoption of the technology and investigates a variety of techniques which can enhance detector performance. An algorithm for quickly and consistently identifying hot pixels in SPAD arrays was developed. Fitting a log-normal probability density function to a histogram of detector dark counts allows a statistical threshold to be applied which correctly excludes only hot pixels. Next, a ‘sliding gate’ technique was employed to extract 3D information using a sensor without time-correlated single-photon counting capabilities. The innovative approach to depth profiling was conducted using a large-format 256 × 256 quanta image sensor (QIS); a type of SPAD image sensor with a binary output to facilitate high-speed, low-noise read-out. Despite the lack of timing electronics, a depth resolution of ∼ 4 mm was achieved using this technique. High efficiency diffractive microlens arrays were then designed to improve the light collection capability of SPAD detector arrays with low fill-factors. The arrays were fabricated using binary-mask based photolithography and integrated with four 32 × 32 Si CMOS SPAD image sensors. A full characterisation of the microlens performance was conducted under different f-number illumination (from f/2 – f/22) and across a large spectral range (λ = 500 − 900 nm). High concentration factors (CFs) were achieved while maintaining the uniformity across the arrays. SPADS with fill-factors of only 3.14 % and 1.54 % were enhanced by maximum CFs of 19.5 and 33.8 respectively, with spatial variation of < 10 %. Finally, plasmonic metasurface colour filter arrays (CFAs) were designed and integrated with CMOS SPAD arrays for the first time. The metasurface was composed of a periodic arrangement of circular and elliptical nanoholes facilitating high transmission efficiency, high out-of-band rejection ratios and polarisation insensitivity. The CFA comprised red, green and blue (RGB) filters in a mosaic pattern, fabricated using only a single electron-beam lithography step. The integrated SPADs were used to perform multispectral imaging in a number of different approaches. Firstly, active illumination was performed using three-colour laser illumination and a broadband white light source on a variety of static targets. Secondly, a biological imaging system was employed to perform transmission and fluorescence imaging microscopy using three stained biological samples. In both systems, high quality colour image reconstruction was found possible with as few as ∼ 20 − 30 photons per pixel