Investigation of Japanese aesthetic life through the work of Sōtatsu and Kōrin, An

Art history research paper.1997 Spring.Includes bibliographic references (pages 28-29).Obtaining an understanding of the main components of the Japanese insight into beauty requires not only a grasp of the formal visual elements of the style, but also an understanding of the aesthetic as it pervaded every aspect of life in Japan. Much has been written about the intimate relationship between crafts such as pottery and spiritual life under the influence of Zen, but in screens we have examples of a Japanese art form which blend characteristics of the flat, painted image with those of objects of utility. During the Momoyama and Edo eras of the 17th and 18th centuries came new advances in the Japanese style of painting, primarily due to the artists Sōtatsu and Kōrin, now referred to as "The Great Decorators." This paper traces the traditional Japanese aesthetic from its Eastern religious and philosophical background to its expression in the screen paintings of the Sotatsu-Korin School Connections to the activities of the Japanese way of life of the period and the specific vocabulary used to discuss art of all varieties in Japan help to illuminate key concepts such as irregularity, simplicity, intuition, decoration, pattern, and utility. All of these are intimately related to the Buddhist and Zen procedures for living an artful and natural life and all seek to provide a harmonious blend between the artificial and the natural

Poems and prayers to nature's sublime inspiration

1997 Spring.In the intimate folds of nature, I have found places which have inspired me to revel in them, to remember them, and to research with paint the visual and emotional power they hold. They are microcosms of life's universal rhythms which sing praise to the sublime wisdom of the macrocosm. My journey through them affirms personal growth, understanding, and renewal; the evidence of these things lies in the sensitively crafted and painted handmade objects which are left behind. I have made myself a conduit through which nature informs art. With my process of laying down a primal and gestural web of marks and later weaving paint over and through them, expression is crystallized and then built upon through memory re-construction and aesthetic choices. Sanding, scraping, wiping, and veiling of paint make reference to the ethereal forces of nature while creating visceral surfaces on the art objects. In this body of work, traditions are simultaneously being championed and challenged. The tradition of using flat, rectangular planes to allude to space is embraced, while the angular juxtaposition of the panels against each other calls the rules of two-dimensional painting into question. They are paintings, yet as screens they have utility and function. The screens borrow from the intelligence of the Japanese master screen painters, but stretch the limits of the prescribed formats beyond the legacy. These are the most recent footsteps of my journey, inspired by real, visual experiences of nature and colored by perspective, time, and the very acts of remembering and painting

Bioinformatics analysis of the locus for enterocyte effacement provides novel insights into type-III secretion

BACKGROUND: Like many other pathogens, enterohaemorrhagic and enteropathogenic strains of Escherichia coli employ a type-III secretion system to translocate bacterial effector proteins into host cells, where they then disrupt a range of cellular functions. This system is encoded by the locus for enterocyte effacement. Many of the genes within this locus have been assigned names and functions through homology with the better characterised Ysc-Yop system from Yersinia spp. However, the functions and homologies of many LEE genes remain obscure. RESULTS: We have performed a fresh bioinformatics analysis of the LEE. Using PSI-BLAST we have been able to identify several novel homologies between LEE-encoded and Ysc-Yop-associated proteins: Orf2/YscE, Orf5/YscL, rORF8/EscI, SepQ/YscQ, SepL/YopN-TyeA, CesD2/LcrR. In addition, we highlight homology between EspA and flagellin, and report many new homologues of the chaperone CesT. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the vast majority of LEE-encoded proteins do indeed possess homologues and that homology data can be used in combination with experimental data to make fresh functional predictions

The Kuiper Belt and Olbers Paradox

We investigate the constraints that Olbers Paradox, applied to the Zodiacal Background as measured from space, sets on outer solar system objects. If extended to very faint limits, R = 40--50 mag, the steep optical luminosity function (LF) of Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) at R less than 26 mag implies an infinitely bright night sky. Small KBOs with radii of 1 mm to 1 km must have a size distribution n(r) proportional to r^{-a}, with a = 3.5 or smaller to satisfy the known limits on the sky-surface brightness at optical and far-infrared wavelengths. Improved limits on the measured KBO surface brightness can yield direct estimates of the albedo, temperature, and size distribution for small KBOs in the outer solar system.Comment: 4 pages and 2 figures; submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letter

Vacuum ultraviolet instrumentation for solar irradiance and thermospheric airglow

A NASA sounding rocket experiment was developed to study the solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectral irradiance and its effect on the upper atmosphere. Both the solar flux and the terrestrial molecular nitrogen via the Lyman-Birge-Hopfield bands in the far ultraviolet (FUV) were measured remotely from a sounding rocket on October 27, 1992. The rocket experiment also includes EUV instruments from Boston University (Supriya Chakrabarti), but only the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)/University of Colorado (CU) four solar instruments and one airglow instrument are discussed here. The primary solar EUV instrument is a 1/4 meter Rowland circle EUV spectrograph which has flown on three rockets since 1988 measuring the solar spectral irradiance from 30 to 110 nm with 0.2 nm resolution. Another solar irradiance instrument is an array of six silicon XUV photodiodes, each having different metallic filters coated directly on the photodiodes. This photodiode system provides a spectral coverage from 0.1 to 80 nm with about 15 nm resolution. The other solar irradiance instrument is a silicon avalanche photodiode coupled with pulse height analyzer electronics. This avalanche photodiode package measures the XUV photon energy providing a solar spectrum from 50 to 12,400 eV (25 to 0.1 nm) with an energy resolution of about 50 eV. The fourth solar instrument is an XUV imager that images the sun at 17.5 nm with a spatial resolution of 20 arc-seconds. The airglow spectrograph measures the terrestrial FUV airglow emissions along the horizon from 125 to 160 nm with 0.2 nm spectral resolution. The photon-counting CODACON detectors are used for three of these instruments and consist of coded arrays of anodes behind microchannel plates. The one-dimensional and two-dimensional CODACON detectors were developed at CU by Dr. George Lawrence. The pre-flight and post-flight photometric calibrations were performed at our calibration laboratory and at the Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility (SURF) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland

DNA yield and quality of saliva samples and suitability for large scale epidemiological studies in children

Objective: To evaluate two saliva collection methods for DNA yield and quality as applied to a large, integrated, multicentre, European project involving the collection of biological material from children. Design: Cross-sectional multicentre comparative study in young children. Methods: Saliva samples were collected from 14 019 children aged 2-9 years from eight European countries participating in the IDEFICS (Identification and prevention of dietary-and lifestyle-induced health effects in children and infants) study. This involved either the collection of 2 ml of saliva from children who were able to spit, or using a sponge to collect whole saliva and buccal mucosal cells from the inside of the mouth of younger children unable to spit. Samples were assembled centrally in each participating centre and subsequently despatched for DNA extraction and biobanking to the University of Glasgow. A subgroup of 4678 samples (similar to 33% of sampled individuals) were chosen for DNA extraction before genotyping. Results: The whole-saliva collection method resulted in a higher DNA yield than the sponge collection method (mean +/- s.d.; saliva: 20.95 +/- 2.35 mu g, sponge: 9.13 +/- 2.25 mu g; P < 0.001). DNA quality as measured by A(260)/A(280) was similar for the two collection methods. A minimum genotype calling success rate of 95% showed that both methods provide good-quality DNA for genotyping using TaqMan allelic discrimination assays. Conclusions: Our results showed higher DNA yield from the whole-saliva collection method compared with the assisted sponge collection. However, both collection methods provided DNA of sufficient quantity and quality for large-scale genetic epidemiological studies

How safe is your curry? Food allergy awareness of restaurant staff

Background: Incidents of severe and fatal anaphylaxis to accidentally ingested food allergens are increasing. Individuals are more likely to encounter difficulties when eating away from home. In restaurants, front-of-house and kitchen staff may be called upon to provide information about ingredients or ensure certain food allergens are excluded from dishes. Following a series of reactions related to the accidental ingestion of peanuts in curries we assessed food allergy awareness and allergen avoidance practices amongst the staff of Asian-Indian restaurants. Methods: A questionnaire survey was administered by telephone to one member of staff in each restaurant. Results: Fifty percent (40/80) of restaurants participated. Responders included managers, owners, waiters and chefs. Most (90%) had received food hygiene training, but only 15% food allergy training. 25% could name three common food allergens. 3 in 4 listed nuts, but less than 1in 5 mentioned peanuts. Common misunderstandings included 60% of staff believing an individual experiencing an allergic reaction should drink water to dilute the allergen. A less prevalent, but perhaps more concerning, was the misunderstanding that cooking food would prevent it causing an allergic reaction (25%). Despite poor knowledge, all respondents were comfortable and 65% were “very comfortable” with providing a “safe” meal for a customer with a food allergy. 60% expressed interest in future food allergy training. Conclusions: Despite high confidence in their own understanding of allergy, many staff lacked the knowledge to provide “safe” meals for food allergic customers. Traditionally tree nuts are a common ingredient in Asian-Indian dishes cuisine and there was widespread, but not universal, awareness of tree nuts as a common allergen. Peanuts were less commonly recognised as a common allergen, an observation of extreme concern as peanuts are being substituted for tree nuts as they are cheaper and avoid having to inflate meal prices. Our data highlights the need for greater training of restaurant staff. In parallel, food allergic customers need to exercise vigilance when making meal choices and develop skills to order a safe meal. The management of allergy is multifaceted, and this study indicates the importance of health professionals working beyond the clinical setting to collaborate with colleagues in the hospitality industry, public health and environmental health in coordinated endeavours to improve patient safety

Synthesising, using, and correcting for telluric features in high-resolution astronomical spectra

We present a technique to synthesise telluric absorption and emission features both for in-situ wavelength calibration and for their removal from astronomical spectra. While the presented technique is applicable for a wide variety of optical and infrared spectra, we concentrate in this paper on selected high-resolution near-infrared spectra obtained with the CRIRES spectrograph to demonstrate its performance and limitation. We find that synthetic spectra reproduce telluric absorption features to about 2%, even close to saturated line cores. Thus, synthetic telluric spectra could be used to replace the observation of telluric standard stars, saving valuable observing time. This technique also provides a precise in-situ wavelength calibration, especially useful for high-resolution near-infrared spectra in the absence of other calibration sources.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&A (updated version