The Abject in the Technological Other

A photographic project and exegesis demonstrating artificial intelligence and artificial life as occurrences of the abject. In the photographic project \u270=2\u27, the technologies of artificial intelligence and artificial life are examined in relation to identity, via an elaboration of the psychoanalytic concert of the \u27abject\u27. An exegesis of the creative project contains an investigation of computer technologies in regard to identity, an analysis of the basic concepts and paradigms of the sciences of artificial intelligence and artificial life, and an elaboration of the psychoanalytic concept of the abject - demonstrating A.l. and a-life as cultural instantiations of abjection. In addition, an examination of the creative work provides a further amplification of these analyses. Both the creative work and the companion exegesis will contribute to cybercultural theory and arts practice, providing a psychoanalytic understanding of these scientific technologies

The photographic other: Paradox in the cathexis of longing

A photographic and written examination of paradox in relation to the photograph This research aims to illuminate the relationship between paradox and photography, elaborated via Julia Kristeva’s notion of the abject. Paradox is considered in relation to photography in terms of repeated and unresolved debates about the status of the photograph as either an ‘index of reality’ (Bate, 2004, p. 1) or as a sign. The significance of this research lies in its re-motivation of abjection in terms of paradox, not in order to resolve such debates but, rather, to illuminate the importance of such unresolved contradictions in terms of photography’s often powerful affect and meaning. Situated within the paradigm of qualitative research, the research employs the theoretical perspective of post-structuralist psychoanalysis, combined with the methodology of critical analysis, as an approach appropriate to illuminating latencies within representation. Photographs by Jeff Wall, Pat Brassington, Patricia Piccinini, Roger Ballen, and Bill Henson, are critically analysed as informationrich case studies of the use of photographic paradox. The creative component of the research is presented in the form of a web site consisting of photographs and animations of photographs, that collide aesthetic constructions of the body as an objective, external, object of an other’s vision with a more sensory, and personal, experience of the body as the site of inner subjectivity. As such, the camera lens functions as a metaphor for each of these constructions, while body parts and fluids vie with objects of memory and optical imaging, repeating and transforming existing objects into new aesthetic forms. As with the case studies of photographic paradox, this photographic project makes explicit the workings of paradox, revealing repeated and unresolved contradictions that serve to create contemplative and often powerfully affective experiences of viewing

Improvements on the Inhaler

Background: Inhalers are a commonplace in American health care and deliver crucial drugs to patients with COPD and asthma. Inhaler use has been shown to be unsatisfactory among patients resulting in ineffective medication delivery. The goal of this project was to improve the inhaler design for increased effectiveness and ease of use. Methods: Our team first interviewed a Pulmonologist regarding patient inhaler use. Dr. Harry Kane demonstrated the proper use of an inhaler as well and described errors in inhaler use are due to patient technique. A variety of inhalers currently available were examined and were compared for ease of use. Results: Interview with attending physician revealed numerous patient errors that impede effectiveness of inhaled medication. Two common mistakes were identified: patients inhaling too rapidly and patients dispensing the medication too late. Inhaling too rapidly decreases the fraction of drug that reaches the lungs, decreasing effectiveness. Dispensing the medication after a patient reaches total lung capacity (TLC) prevents the drug from reaching their lungs, decreasing effectiveness. Conclusions: We conclude that inhalers could be used more effectively by addressing patient education and feedback mechanisms. Possible solutions discuss audible feedback to help coordinate patient breath with optimal dispersal timing. Future work includes prototyping a design and eliciting patient feedback

Examining the Career Pathways of Educators with Superintendent Certification

Purpose: We used gatekeeping theory to frame our examination of whether and when educators with superintendent certification become superintendents, and how their likelihood of making that transition is influenced by race, sex, and other characteristics. Further, we sought to identify variation in career pathways to the superintendency. Data and Method: We analyzed 26,071 observations of 4,813 unique individuals, representing the entire population of Texas public school educators who obtained their first superintendent certificate between the 2000-01 and 2014-15 school years. We constructed alluvial diagrams to visualize these educators’ career pathways. In addition to compiling a life table and visual displays of hazard, we utilized a discrete-time hazard model to control for individual and contextual characteristics associated with transitions into the superintendency. Findings: Educators are most likely to enter the superintendency in the academic year immediately following that in which they obtained the requisite certification. Further, pathways to the superintendency differ greatly based on educator sex and race, as well as the level and locale employment setting. Finally, we determined that age, experience, education, level of employment, and sex all have statistically significant impacts on the likelihood of becoming a superintendent. Implications for Research and Practice: We discuss the role that researchers must play in coordinating with practitioners to ensure more equitable opportunity for aspiring superintendents. We also emphasize the important role that preparation programs play in preparing candidates for the job market. Finally, we ponder further expansions of similar pre-superintendency research, as well as more robust applications of alluvial diagrams. KEYWORDS: superintendents, intersectionality, alluvial, career pathways, certification, gatekeeping, school district leadershi

How are major gambling brands using Twitter?

This paper is the first to compare how major gambling brands are using the popular social media platform Twitter, looking at how gambling brands vary in the frequency of their messages, the content of their tweets and engagement with their Twitter activity. 63,913 tweets were collected from seven well-known British gambling brands (Bet365, Betfair, Betfred, Coral, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power, William Hill) and their associated Twitter accounts (Total Number of Accounts = 22) via the Twitter Application Program Interface (API) on the 1 August 2018. Companies varied in their approach to Twitter, some posting from a single account whereas others segmented their tweets by topic or purpose. Frequency analysis of tweets showed that on average major gambling brands tweeted anywhere between 89 and 202 tweets a day. Sentiment analysis of tweets showed a positivity bias with the language in tweets being associated with positive emotions like anticipation, trust and joy. Paddy Power, Bet365 and Coral produced the content that received the highest number of likes or shares from other twitter users. This study highlights the extent to which companies are using Twitter; followers could potentially be receiving hundreds of messages per day

BIM for infrastructure: An overall review and constructor perspective

The subject of building information modelling (BIM) has become a central topic to the improvement of the AECOO (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Owner and Operator) industry around the world, to the point where the concept is being expanded into domains it was not originally conceived to address. Transitioning BIMinto the domain of infrastructure projects has provided challenges and emphasized the constructor perspective of BIM. Therefore, this study aims to collect the relevant literature regarding BIM within the Infrastructure domain and its use from the constructor perspective to review and analyse the current industry positioning and research state of the art, with regards to the set criteria. The review highlighted a developing base of BIM for infrastructure. Fromthe analysis, the related research gapswere identified regarding information integration, alignment of BIM processes to constructor business processes & the effective governance and value of information. From this a unique research strategy utilising a framework for information governance coupled with a graph based distributed data environment is outlined to further progress the integration and efficiency of AECOO Infrastructure projects

Improving the Security of United States Elections with Robust Optimization

For more than a century, election officials across the United States have inspected voting machines before elections using a procedure called Logic and Accuracy Testing (LAT). This procedure consists of election officials casting a test deck of ballots into each voting machine and confirming the machine produces the expected vote total for each candidate. We bring a scientific perspective to LAT by introducing the first formal approach to designing test decks with rigorous security guarantees. Specifically, our approach employs robust optimization to find test decks that are guaranteed to detect any voting machine misconfiguration that would cause votes to be swapped across candidates. Out of all the test decks with this security guarantee, our robust optimization problem yields the test deck with the minimum number of ballots, thereby minimizing implementation costs for election officials. To facilitate deployment at scale, we develop a practically efficient exact algorithm for solving our robust optimization problems based on the cutting plane method. In partnership with the Michigan Bureau of Elections, we retrospectively applied our approach to all 6928 ballot styles from Michigan's November 2022 general election; this retrospective study reveals that the test decks with rigorous security guarantees obtained by our approach require, on average, only 1.2% more ballots than current practice. Our approach has since been piloted in real-world elections by the Michigan Bureau of Elections as a low-cost way to improve election security and increase public trust in democratic institutions

Elected Texas District and County Attorneys’ Perceptions of Crime Victim Involvement in Criminal Prosecutions

This study tested the utility of the Victim Satisfaction Model of the criminal justice system by surveying elected District and County Attorneys\u27 perceptions of victims\u27 involvement in the charging and plea bargaining stages of the criminal justice process. This study used a cross-section research design. Every elected District and County Attorney in Texas received self-administered questionnaires. The results of this study support the utility of the Victim Satisfaction Model of the criminal justice system, further our understanding of prosecutorial decision-making, and have important implications for the American criminal justice system