Batik of Java: Global Inspiration

Batik, the technique of patterning cloth through the application of wax, reached the highest level of complexity on the island of Java. While deeply embedded in local traditions and associated with the social order of Java, outside Indonesia batik became a powerful cultural intermediary connecting countries as diverse as Netherlands, Japan, Ghana, India, and Australia. In the early stages, this process was an outcome of the Dutch colonial agency. In the 17th and 18th centuries the Dutch East India Company sold Indian textiles destined for Indonesian markets as well as small quantities of Javanese batiks to the Japanese. It led to the introduction of Javanese motifs in the Edo fashion and ensued a centuries-long interest in Indonesian textiles. A large-scale dissemination of Javanese iconography started at the end of the 19th century with the export of European copies of batik textiles to West African markets. Javanese motifs were enthusiastically received by African customers and, following a process of intensive adaptation, have become an integral part of African textile tradition and identity. Another outcome of colonial encounters was the introduction of the batik technique to the Netherlands around 1890. A decade later, batik was practiced all over Europe and became a distinctive feature of Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Interest in this technique led to the introduction of Javanese motifs into European fashion and fine arts, for example the works of Poiret, van de Velde, Ch. R. Mackintosh and Matisse. More recent introduction in the 1930s of the Javanese batik technique to West Bengal in India and into Australian Aboriginal communities forty years later, resulted from direct contacts. For example, the 1927 visit to Java by Rabindranath Tagore led to the development of Bengali batik-nowadays a successful cottage industry. While in Australia, following a series of collaborative workshops between Indonesian and Aboriginal artists, batik became a modern medium for expressing Aboriginal identity and ancestral legacy

Using contextual information in the evaluation of the effectiveness of barriers restricting access to the main line at stations

The use of fencing at railway stations to reduce the numbers of fatalities is a common safety intervention. This study examines the effectiveness of a mid-platform fencing programme as a means of preventing access to the track area. Two aspects of the programme are considered: firstly the extent to which fencing has been fitted to provide a secure barrier to fast lines at the target stations; and secondly, investigation of incidents in which the physical barrier has been overcome by individuals. The study involved the analysis and collation of descriptive data, using station visits, interviews with industry staff, examination of reports on the incidents and data from the SMIS database. It was found that the desired level of restriction of access to the intended areas through fencing was not always provided. So far, there have been few examples where somebody attempted or succeeded in climbing over a barrier to access the track. Factors affecting the effectiveness of physical barriers are presented and some shortcomings in current collection of evidence through incident reporting are highlighted

The factors and protocols that influence, accuracy, precision and uncertainty of accurate mass measurements by FT-ICR ms to validate the assignment of elemental composition

The need for very accurate mass measurements of compounds is becoming more demanding with the expansion of the number of compounds in need of correct identification and with the limits of elemental analysis; a fast, robust analytical solution is sought. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) is a very powerful tool for undertaking accurate mass measurements because of its high resolving power and mass accuracy. The use of FT-ICR MS in a high-throughput environment is limited due to the need of operator intervention required to obtain optimum accurate mass measurements. The lowest mass measurement errors (MME) are usually obtained using internal calibration, as the sample and calibrant ions inside the ICR cell experience the same conditions. However, internal calibration requires calibrant ions to be selected according to the mass of the sample ion, which requires operator intervention. External calibration is the preferred choice when performing accurate mass measurements in a high-throughput environment, as a calibration can be acquired independently of the sample. This study aims to demonstrate the use of ion population balancing using a dual sprayer approach to reduce MME. Population balancing between sample ions and calibrant ions can reduce the MME 40-fold. Ion populations across a chromatographic run can also vary greatly. The dual sprayer can also be employed to easily control the ion populations of both sample and calibrant entering the cell and can help to reduce ion suppression. The aim of the latter part of the work was to address the uncertainty of an accurate mass measurement performed using FT-ICR MS. In order to confidently select an elemental formula following an accurate mass measurement, a ‘cut-off’ limit or tolerance has to be selected. This tolerance can be set by calculating the uncertainty of the measurement; without an uncertainty component the measurement is meaningless. The work herein demonstrates how to calculate uncertainty of an accurate mass measurement with the aim that journals will adopt a procedure of only accepting an accurate mass measurement which quotes an uncertainty

Evaluating rail suicide prevention measures

Many rail safety interventions are implemented without sufficient consideration of the effectiveness of the intervention or the degree to which the intervention has been implemented. This paper describes a programme of work to develop, test and implement a simple framework and associated research tools that can be used by rail staff to collect better data for evaluating the effectiveness of rail suicide prevention measures. Problems that have been encountered in attempting to embed this framework within organisational processes are described

In vitro generation of pancreatic β-cells for diabetes treatment. I. β-like cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is characterized by the lack of pancreatic β-cells that had been destroyed as a result of an autoimmune response. Therefore, in patients with T1D, the replacement therapy with functional β-cells derived from extrinsic sources could be a preferable option as compared to insulin treatment. Unfortunately, successful transplantation of whole pancreata or pancreatic islets into patients with diabetes is available only to a fraction of them due to the scarcity of donors. The rapid development of cell reprogramming methods made it possible to generate large numbers of human β-like cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) or human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). This review describes the basis of in vitro differentiaton protocols of β-like cells that mimic changes of the main signaling pathways during the key stages of human and murine pancreas development, which are described first. During the last 15 years it was found that there are no important differences between hESCs and hiPSCs in their differentiation capacities into β-like cells and the expression profiles of the key transcription factors. The in vitro produced β-like cells are immature as demonstrated by functional tests in rodents and single-cell transcriptomic and proteomic analyses. After the transplantation of the β cell progenitors into immunocompromised diabetic mice, a few weeks have to pass before the increased insulin levels in response to glucose load appear. There is a continuous progress in the development of open-type encapsulation devices which allow the vascularization of the transplanted cells and protect them against host’s immune cells. The results of the first clinical trial of human partially differentiated endocrine progenitors of β cells transplanted into patients with T1D will be published in the year 2019. It is hoped that further improvements in the techniques of large-scale generation of the β-like cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells will bring us closer to their clinical application as a form of cause-directed therapy for people with diabetes.

Designing and evaluating a participatory workplace nutrition intervention to improve the health and wellbeing of blue-collar (construction) workers

Background: Construction is an important industry, estimated to employ 7% of the UK workforce and accounting for 6% of the total economic output. A poor state of health and wellbeing of construction labourers has been widely recognised, with workers suffering from a high number of work-related injuries and occupational health problems, including musculoskeletal and lung illnesses as well as poor mental health. In addition, construction workers struggle with healthy food choices due to lack of knowledge, long working hours, remote site locations, poor food facilities on site, and temporary accommodation. Yet, nutrition interventions in construction are rare, with no UK studies.Aim: The study aimed to design and evaluate a participatory nutrition intervention to improve the health and wellbeing of construction workers. Methods: A mixed-methods approach was used and the study included three stages. The first, exploratory phase of the project, comprising the literature review and focus groups with construction workers and managers (n=5), informed and determined the next phases, including the questionnaire development and subsequent intervention design. In the next stage, the baseline questionnaire was distributed (n=51), the intervention was designed using the COM-B model and the Behaviour Change Wheel and implemented on a construction site. In the last, evaluation stage, results from the follow-up questionnaires (n=22), findings from individual interviewees (n=13) as well as an intervention plan, checklists and researcher’s notes were used.Results: Findings from the literature review and focus groups explored construction workers’ nutrition behaviours, identified barriers and facilitators to healthy nutrition choices in the workplace and investigated perceptions of current health interventions, and ways to design a nutrition intervention suitable for the industry. Following the intervention, the questionnaire results showed changes in health and wellbeing outcomes as well as nutrition knowledge, nutrition behaviour and body composition measures (e.g., weight, fat mass, fat free mass, BMI). In addition, data from individual interviews with managers and workers who attended the intervention allowed the evaluation outcomes to be appraised and understood further, in relation to the implementation, fidelity, dose received, dose delivered, reach and recruitment. Conclusions: Overall, this study shows the process of designing a construction industry tailored nutrition intervention in a participatory manner. The findings indicate that despite context related barriers to the implementation, workplace interventions taking place on ‘real-life’ working construction sites are possible and can bring positive changes, at 6 month follow-up

Analysing the use of an interactive data visualization in order to disseminate detailed data on rail fatalities

The subject of this Dissertation is the design of an interactive data visualization to disseminate the findings of the research related to rail fatalities to stakeholders within the Rail Industry. The design process consisted of three main stages which were: development of requirements, design and evaluation. The process of the development of requirements built upon the analysis of given datasets and the study findings, the analysis of examples of data visualization used in the rail industry, the review of literature reporting findings on the geographical factors that may influence the occurrence of incidents and the semi-structured interviews with representatives of stakeholders groups. The main goal identified in this process was to provide information about the suicides that occurred on the stations in the context of geographical factors in the area that might influence the occurrence of the events. Interactive data was designed, based on the set of requirements and the principles for data visualization. A prototype illustrating the main functions of the system was produced. In the process of evaluation, the prototype was presented to the representatives of stakeholders groups and feedback on the design was gathered through the use of an on-line questionnaire. All of the participants agreed that the application highlights key features of the data and that the use of this tool has the potential to improve the understanding of the factors that may influence the occurrence of incidents

Batik Jawa Bagi Dunia / Javanese Batik to the World

[Indonesian] Selama Iebih dari satu abad, batik Jawa telah menjadi sumber inspirasi bagi para seniman dan perancang busana di Eropa, Afrika, India dan Australia. Tekstil Jawa menarik Perhatian tokoh terkemuka, seperti Thomas Stamford Raffles, Rabindranath Tagore, Nelson Mandela, Henri Matisse, Henry van de Velde, dan Yinka Shonibare MBE. Buku ini adalah yang pertama menyajikan gambaran komprehensif tentang perjumpaan budaya yang begitu beragam dan warisan mereka. Dr. Maria Wronska-Friend adalah Peneliti Senior di Universitas James Cook, Australia dan selama hampir tiga puluh tahun telah mengkaji Berbagai aspek wastra dan busana di Asia Tenggara. Buku ini berisi 120 foto batik dari museum dan galeri seni rupa dari Britania, Belanda, India, Australia, Polandia, Amerika Serikat, Prancis, Jerman, dan negara lain. [English] More than a century ago, batik of Java became a source of inspiration for artists and designers in Europe, Africa, India and Australia. Javanese textiles drew the attention of prominent persons such as Thomas Stamford Raffles, Rabindranath Tagore, Nelson Mandela, Henri Matisse, Henry van de Velde and Yinka Shonibare MBE. This book provides the first comprehensive overview of these encounters and their legacies. Dr Maria Wronska-Friend is a Senior Research Fellow at James Cook University in Australia and has dedicated almost thirty years to the study of various aspects of textiles and costumes of Southeast Asia. This book is illustrated with 120 images of Java-inspired textiles from the collections of museums and art galleries worldwide, incuding the UK, the Netherlands, India, Australia, Poland, the USA, France and Germany

Engaging in Creativity Broadens Attentional Scope

Previous studies have shown that creativity is enhanced by a broad attentional scope, defined as an ability to utilize peripheral stimuli and process information globally. We propose that the reverse relationship also holds, and that breadth of attention also is a consequence of engaging in a creative activity. In Study 1, participants showed increased breadth of attention in a visual scanning task after performing a divergent thinking task as opposed to an analytic thinking task. In Study 2, participants recognized peripheral stimuli displayed during the task better after performing a divergent thinking task as compared to an analytic task, whereas recognition performance of participants performing a task that involves a mix of divergent and analytic thinking (the Remote Associates Test) fell in between. Additionally, in Study 2 (but not in Study 1), breadth of attention was positively correlated with performance in a divergent thinking task, but not with performance in an analytic thinking task. Our findings suggest that the adjustment of the cognitive system to task demands manifests at a very basic, perceptual level, through changes in the breadth of visual attention. This paper contributes a new, motivational perspective on attentional breadth and discusses it as a result of adjusting cognitive processing to the task requirements, which contributes to effective self-regulation