Writing as a curator

These assembled texts relate to working as a curator at the Lychee One Gallery over a four-year period (2014-18). The gallery focuses on showing young artists from both Far Eastern and Western backgrounds on either an exhibition or project basis. The text for each exhibition or event function not only as a means of introducing the works in question but also as an experiment in writing that functions within its own elected domain. In this respect the writing performs a relation both to presentation of objects, subjects, figures and situations. Each of the texts have been translated into Chinese as part of the aim of creating a dialogue between the various cultures that the gallery touches upon

Total syntheses of conformationally-locked difluorinated pentopyranose analogues and a pentopyranosyl phosphate mimetic

Trifluoroethanol has been elaborated, via a telescoped sequence involving a metalated difluoroenol, a difluoroallylic alcohol, [2,3]-Wittig rearrangement, and ultimately an RCM reaction and requiring minimal intermediate purification, to a number of cyclooctenone intermediates. Epoxidation of these intermediates followed by transannular ring opening or dihydroxylation, then transannular hemiacetalization delivers novel bicyclic analogues of pentopyranoses, which were elaborated (in one case) to an analogue of a glycosyl phosphate

Machine Learning for Adaptive Computer Game Opponents

This thesis investigates the use of machine learning techniques in computer games to create a computer player that adapts to its opponent's game-play. This includes first confirming that machine learning algorithms can be integrated into a modern computer game without have a detrimental effect on game performance, then experimenting with different machine learning techniques to maximize the computer player's performance. Experiments use three machine learning techniques; static prediction models, continuous learning, and reinforcement learning. Static models show the highest initial performance but are not able to beat a simple opponent. Continuous learning is able to improve the performance achieved with static models but the rate of improvement drops over time and the computer player is still unable to beat the opponent. Reinforcement learning methods have the highest rate of improvement but the lowest initial performance. This limits the effectiveness of reinforcement learning because a large number of episodes are required before performance becomes sufficient to match the opponent

The rural community: a case study of two regions of Staffordshire, 1750 - 1900

In studies of community in the past there is a general absence of conscious, structured theory, invariably resulting in a lack of coherence and comparability. This thesis is, then, an application of the concept using an explicit theory of community. It is conducted through a case-study of two, contrasting regions of rural Staffordshire - the 'Lowlands' and the 'Moorlands' - with a focus on one parish within each region, between the mid-eighteenth-century and the later nineteenth century. It tests the hypothesis that the growth of capitalism in the local economies of these two regions led to changes in social relationships and structures within the two principal communities studied, and that these changes were in the direction from 'integrated' communities towards 'class-based' communities. The first part of the thesis shows how the basis for an integrated community in the eighteenth century was undermined by the personal forces of capital's advance, (that is by the actions of the landlords and farmers), though- to differing degrees in the two regions, with the Moorlands being altered rather less. The second part focuses on the nineteenth century, and reveals that the community in the Lowlands had moved some way, though not completely, towards becoming a class-based community; the community in the Moorlands, however, had moved even less in this direction, and in many ways remained more in the mode of an integrated (eighteenth century-like) community

Measuring time preferences

We review research that measures time preferences—i.e., preferences over intertemporal tradeoffs. We distinguish between studies using financial flows, which we call “money earlier or later” (MEL) decisions and studies that use time-dated consumption/effort. Under different structural models, we show how to translate what MEL experiments directly measure (required rates of return for financial flows) into a discount function over utils. We summarize empirical regularities found in MEL studies and the predictive power of those studies. We explain why MEL choices are driven in part by some factors that are distinct from underlying time preferences.National Institutes of Health (NIA R01AG021650 and P01AG005842) and the Pershing Square Fund for Research in the Foundations of Human Behavior

Image reconstruction from photon sparse data

We report an algorithm for reconstructing images when the average number of photons recorded per pixel is of order unity, i.e. photon-sparse data. The image optimisation algorithm minimises a cost function incorporating both a Poissonian log-likelihood term based on the deviation of the reconstructed image from the measured data and a regularization-term based upon the sum of the moduli of the second spatial derivatives of the reconstructed image pixel intensities. The balance between these two terms is set by a bootstrapping technique where the target value of the log-likelihood term is deduced from a smoothed version of the original data. When compared to the original data, the processed images exhibit lower residuals with respect to the true object. We use photon-sparse data from two different experimental systems, one system based on a single-photon, avalanche photo-diode array and the other system on a time-gated, intensified camera. However, this same processing technique could most likely be applied to any low photon-number image irrespective of how the data is collected

An investigation into the mechanisms driving spontaneous cough in a preclinical model of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a terminal lung disease characterised by a progressive deposition of scar tissue within the lung interstitium. The disease is made more troubling for patients by being frequently accompanied by a chronic, sputumless cough, which has a severe impact on their quality of life. The pathophysiology behind cough in IPF remains poorly understood, and as such, it has proven refractory to treatment; the aim of this thesis was to elucidate the mechanisms behind this distressing symptom. We sought to model IPF-associated chronic cough using a bleomycin-driven model of fibrosis in guinea pigs. After having characterised the inflammatory and fibrotic features of this model, we discovered, in a preclinical first, that bleomycin-treated guinea pigs cough spontaneously, much like IPF patients. We believe that this model more closely recapitulates the cough seen in patients than other provoked cough challenge models. In search for the mediators that were driving cough within this preclinical model, we quantified the levels of different biomarkers in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) that are reportedly elevated in the IPF lung: extracellular ATP, mast cell tryptase and 8-isoprostane (a biomarker for oxidative stress). We found evidence that all three of these were more highly present in the lungs of bleomycin-treated animals than the vehicle control group. Further to this, we measured these biomarkers in BALF donated by IPF patients at Royal Brompton Hospital and found that 8- isoprostane was significantly more concentrated in IPF BALF than in healthy volunteer BALF. We then utilised a variety of in vitro and in vivo techniques to further investigate how these lung milieus might elicit cough. After showing that H2O2, a reactive oxygen species, was capable of generating oxidative stress in guinea pig vagal ganglia, we further determined that it caused vagus nerve depolarisation through the ion channel TRPA1. We also discovered that activating the PAR2 receptor, a target of mast cell tryptase, also caused airway sensory nerve activation through the ion channel TRPV4; TRPV4 activation has previously been shown to cause cough via the extracellular release of ATP. Finally, we report on the efficacy of GSK2798745, a selective TRPV4 channel antagonist, that is capable of abrogating TRPV4-induced cough. In the near future, we intend to use a variety of pharmacological tools, including this one, in our novel in vivo model of fibrosis-induced spontaneous cough, with the end goal of finding an effective antitussive therapy for IPF patients.Open Acces

Reading and Conversation

Jonathan Miles in conversation with Jim Dees

Modelling of light scattering by cirrus ice crystals using geometric optics combined with diffraction of facets

A new 3D model of light scattering applicable to dielectric faceted objects is presented. The model combines Geometric Optics with diffraction on individual facets yet maintains the low computational expense of standard Geometric Optics. The current implementation of the model is explained and then applied to the problem of light scattering by ice crystals in cirrus clouds. Accurate modelling of the scattering properties of such crystals is crucial to better understanding of cirrus radiative properties and hence to climate modelling and weather forecasting. Calculations using the new model are compared to a separation of variables method and the Improved Geometric Optics method with encouraging results. The model shows significant improvements over standard Geometric Optics. The size applicability of the new model is discussed. The model is applied to a range of crystal geometries that have been observed in cirrus including the hexagonal column, the hollow column, the droxtal and the bullet rosette. For each geometry the phase function and degree of linear polarization are presented and discussed. Ice analogue crystals grown at the University of Hertfordshire have optical properties very close to ice but are stable at room temperature. The geometries of three ice analogue crystals are reconstructed and the single scattering properties of the reconstructions are presented. 2D scattering patterns calculated using the model are compared to laboratory photographs of scattering patterns on a screen created by an ice analogue hexagonal column. The agreement is shown to be very good. By applying the model to a range of geometries, it is shown that the results in the form of 2D scattering patterns can potentially be used to aid particle characterization. By combining the model with a Monte Carlo radiative transfer code, comparisons are made with aircraft radiance measurements of cirrus provided by the Met Office. The improvements over standard Geometric Optics are found to persist following a radiative transfer treatment

Characterization of Infrared Diode Laser Beams and Atmospheric CO Imaging Instrument

During June-August 1997 Dr. Jonathan Miles participated in the ASEE-sponsored summer faculty research program at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC). The Aerospace Electronic Systems Division (AESD), Sensor Systems Branch (SSB), at NASA LARC had proposed a new mission, GEOstationary TROpospheric Pollution SATellite (GEO TROPSAT), to address critical science questions of tropospheric chemistry. The troposphere is a complex system, comprising "point" and distributed sources of natural and anthropogenic origin; complicated transport processes, both lateral and vertical; and photochemistry driven by UV flux, temperature, atmospheric composition, and other variables. GEO TROPSAT would be implemented about a geostationary Earth orbital (GEO) position at the equator between 600 and 80" West longitude to observe the Americas and large portions of the oceans of either coast. This mission would advance our knowledge of the atmosphere by capturing the wide temporal and spatial variability of tropospheric phenomena which is undetectable from low Earth orbit. A pre-prototype imaging carbon monoxide (CO) imaging system operating within a narrow waveband about 4.7 [Lm was built, demonstrated, and evaluated. This system applies the gas-filter correlation radiometry (GFCR) technique and produces digitized images comprising 4096 pixels, each representing a single CO mixing ratio measurement inferred from radiometric data. Associated tasks accomplished included specification for the next-generation prototype system to operate in the 2.3-@tm waveband; characterization of a 64x64, InSb focal-plane-array (FPA) imager; design, fabrication, and assembly of a filter wheel; and software development. Laboratory evaluation of this system involved imaging of a test cell placed in the path of radiant flux emanating from a blackbody source used to simulate the radiant energy reflected by Earth in real application. The cell was evacuated for system balancing and then charged with measured quantities of CO to provide a means for system characterization. Two related research efforts were undertaken during the term of the study reported here - continued development of an atmospheric CO imaging instrument and characterization of diode-laser beams. Both efforts were successful and are described within the body of this report. A second objective was to provide a means for undergraduate ISAT majors to become involved with the research described, to be afforded the opportunity to learn the technologies associated with the work performed. Two ISAT students gained a comprehensive understanding and interest in missions supported by NASA through direct involvement in this project. Many more students were exposed to these technologies through demonstrations, laboratory tours, and explanations provided in lectures