Reflections on preserving the state of new media art

As part of its work to explore emerging issues associated with characterisation of digital materials, Planets has explored vocabularies and information structures for expressing the properties integral to the value of digital art. Value encompasses those qualities that must be understood and captured in order to ensure that art works’ sensory, emotional, mental and spiritual resonance remain. Facets of interactivity, modularity and temporality associated with digital art present some critical questions that the preservation community must increasingly be equipped to answer. Because digital art materials exhibit fundamental multidimensionality, validating the successful preservation of creative experience demands the explication of more than just file characteristics. Understanding relationships between objects also implies an understanding of their respective functional qualities. This paper presents a Planets’ vocabulary for encapsulating contextual and implicit characteristics of digital art, optimised for preservation planning and validation

A new species of Acmaeodera (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) from Big Bend National Park, Texas : with synonymy for other species occurring in the United States

Acmaeodera tiquilia Westcott and Barr, new species, from Big Bend National Park, Texas is described, figured, and discussed in considerable detail, particularly in relation to the similar and partially sympatric A. recticollis Fall. A neotype is designated for A. quatuordecimspilota Obenberger and that species is synonymized with A. ornata (Fabricius). Additionally, A. gibbula gila Knull is synonymized with A. gibbula LeConte; A. nautica Van Dyke is synonymized with A. simulata Van Dyke

Exploring the acceptability of two self-sampling devices for human papillomavirus testing in the cervical screening context: a qualitative study of Muslim women in London

Objectives We explored Muslim women's attitudes to self-sampling for human papillomavirus (HPV) in the context of cervical cancer screening and their responses to two self-sampling devices.Setting A Muslim community centre in north-east London.Methods Following a talk given on the subject of cervical cancer and HPV at the community centre, 28 women were recruited to take part in three focus group discussions. The discussion covered cervical screening, self-sampling and HPV testing. Women were also asked for their responses to a swab self-sampling kit and a cervico-vaginal lavage device. Discussions were recorded and transcribed verbatim and the qualitative data were analysed using Framework Analysis.Results Participants were generally positive about cervical screening but acknowledged that some women in their community were reluctant to offend because of embarrassment, language difficulties, fear or because they were unmarried and did not want to communicate implicit messages about being sexually active. Self-sampling met a mixed response - women were concerned about not doing the test correctly, but thought that it might overcome barriers to screening for some women. HPV testing itself was thought to raise potentially difficult issues relating to trust and fidelity within marriages. Although most women said they would prefer to continue to have screening by a health professional, if they were to perform self-sampling, there was overwhelming preference for the swab over the lavage kit.Conclusions There was limited enthusiasm for self-sampling in this group of Muslim women who had mostly attended for cervical screening, but a clear preference for a swab rather than a cervico-vaginal lavage

FORTY YEARS OF INCREASING UNDERSTANDING

Agricultural and Food Policy,

Interior Structures and Tidal Heating in the TRAPPIST-1 Planets

With seven planets, the TRAPPIST-1 system has the largest number of exoplanets discovered in a single system so far. The system is of astrobiological interest, because three of its planets orbit in the habitable zone of the ultracool M dwarf. Assuming the planets are composed of non-compressible iron, rock, and H$_2$O, we determine possible interior structures for each planet. To determine how much tidal heat may be dissipated within each planet, we construct a tidal heat generation model using a single uniform viscosity and rigidity for each planet based on the planet's composition. With the exception of TRAPPIST-1c, all seven of the planets have densities low enough to indicate the presence of significant H$_2$O in some form. Planets b and c experience enough heating from planetary tides to maintain magma oceans in their rock mantles; planet c may have eruptions of silicate magma on its surface, which may be detectable with next-generation instrumentation. Tidal heat fluxes on planets d, e, and f are lower, but are still twenty times higher than Earth's mean heat flow. Planets d and e are the most likely to be habitable. Planet d avoids the runaway greenhouse state if its albedo is $\gtrsim$ 0.3. Determining the planet's masses within $\sim0.1$ to 0.5 Earth masses would confirm or rule out the presence of H$_2$O and/or iron in each planet, and permit detailed models of heat production and transport in each planet. Understanding the geodynamics of ice-rich planets f, g, and h requires more sophisticated modeling that can self-consistently balance heat production and transport in both rock and ice layers.Comment: 34 pages, 3 tables, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics -- final version including corrections made in proof stag

Somatic Cell Counts (Leucocyte Counts) A Standard of Milk Acceptability

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The stransverse mass, MT2, in special cases

This document describes some special cases in which the stransverse mass, MT2, may be calculated by non-iterative algorithms. The most notable special case is that in which the visible particles and the hypothesised invisible particles are massless -- a situation relevant to its current usage in the Large Hadron Collider as a discovery variable, and a situation for which no analytic answer was previously known. We also derive an expression for MT2 in another set of new (though arguably less interesting) special cases in which the missing transverse momentum must point parallel or anti parallel to the visible momentum sum. In addition, we find new derivations for already known MT2 solutions in a manner that maintains manifest contralinear boost invariance throughout, providing new insights into old results. Along the way, we stumble across some unexpected results and make conjectures relating to geometric forms of M_eff and H_T and their relationship to MT2.Comment: 11 pages, no figures. v2 corrects minor typos. v3 corrects an incorrect statement in footnote 8 and inserts a missing term in eq (3.9). v4 and v5 correct minor typos spotted by reader

The joy of vacuuming? How the user experience affects vacuum cleaner longevity

An apparent reduction in the average lifetime of vacuum cleaners is explored in this paper in relation to their perceived usability and increasingly frequent product replacement. Motivations for product disposal combine perceived and real product failure with a perceived or real improved product offer. From an historical perspective, vacuum cleaners typify this pattern, continually offering a ‘cheaper and improved’ product. Vacuum cleaner manufacturers reinvigorate the sense of satisfaction and revulsion associated with extracting dirt from our homes through new performance focused product development. For example, increased motor power, filtration, bag-less machines and clear bin compartments have all acted as sales drivers, whilst cost effective materials and offshore and more efficient manufacturing have reduced purchase prices. The latter, cost-driven, processes can create machines that are more likely to be functionally and aesthetically damaged in use, reinforcing the trend for faster replacement. The market appears likely to continue to focus on improved user experience, with growth in market share for lighter weight cordless battery powered machines posing the risk of an increased environmental burden. Drawing from qualitative and quantitative research undertaken for a study for Defra, we explore the user’s relationship to the product, investigating the frustrations and joys of vacuum cleaner use and ownership. The findings illustrate that the revulsion and attraction of cleaning, as well as the tedium and satisfaction fostered by the product, have direct implications for vacuum cleaner longevity

The relationship between ideas about cleanliness and actions that affect product longevity

As Mary Douglas famously put it, ‘where there is dirt there is system’ (1991 (1966): 35). She was concerned particularly with the cultural systems that determine the ideas about dirt that motivate and constrain people’s actions with material objects. This paper assumes that such motivations and constraints may affect consumers’ willingness to keep or to dispose of their possessions, and therefore have an impact on product longevity. It reports on ongoing empirical research using product analysis, ethnographic interviews, a questionnaire and student design work into the possibility of increasing the longevity of vacuum cleaners by design interventions. Because its object of study is a cleaning product used in everyday cleaning practices, the research naturally connects with Douglas’ ideas as well as more recent work such as Dant 2003 that focuses on how people deal practically with the materiality of dirt, not determined by cultural categories. This paper builds on Vaussard et al.’s (2014) classification of individuals by their degree of concern for keeping their house clean, into ‘Spartan’, ‘Minimalistic’, ‘Caring’ and ‘Committed’ cleaners and their implications for vacuum cleaner replacement. Introducing a short history of concern about dirt since germ theory, it considers whether the desire for a more up to date/efficient/powerful/good looking/clean/shiny machine may accelerate replacement. It finally considers whether a design that ‘ages gracefully’ might have a longer life-span, either as a personal possession or as part of a service system

What is broken? Expected lifetime, perception of brokenness and attitude towards maintenance and repair

This paper addresses the discrepancy between the expected and actual lifetimes of vacuum cleaners considering perceived ‘brokenness’ as a driver for replacement. Among electrical products, vacuum cleaners have a high rate of domestic ownership in the UK. They also embody large quantities of greenhouse gases which could be reduced by increasing their longevity and resource efficiency (Schreiber et al., 2012). A focus on energy efficiency has only shown limited or even negative results, therefore to meet recent European Union regulations on durability requirements a focus on product longevity is needed. Around one half of new vacuum cleaner purchasers replace one less than 5 years old, below the expected lifespan, with perceived breakage, poor performance and unreliability as the major reasons for replacement. Their relative simplicity could allow vacuum cleaners to last for significantly longer. The nature of the common causes of failure is known, including stretched cords or blockages, and WRAP has developed guidelines for product improvements. However, many working or repairable machines are disposed of because they are perceived to be ‘irremediably’ broken