scholarly journals OB-scene, a Live Audio/Visual Performance for Photoplethysmograph and Female Body

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 270-276
Author(s):  
Anna Troisi
Keyword(s):  
Biological Data ◽  
The Body ◽  
Specific Work ◽  
Exhibition Space ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Women And Technology ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Vaginal Probe ◽  
Environmental Work ◽  
Masters And Johnson

OB-scene is a performance centred on a live sonification of biological data gathered in real-time with a medical vaginal probe (photoplethysmograph), made by the author. The use of the photoplethysmograph, which takes inspiration from the first medical vaginal probes used for diagnostic purposes by Masters and Johnson (1966) introduces a media-archaeological aspect to this work. Data gathered through the probe is processed and transformed into sound and visuals projected in the exhibition space. OB-scene takes inspiration from Jane Bennett’s Vibrant Matter (2010) in which she argues that human agency has echoes in non-human nature and vice versa, shifting away from anthropocentrism towards the concept of ‘vital materiality’ that runs across bodies, both humans and unhuman. Furthermore, OB-scene is affiliated with an emerging movement of women and technology called ‘XenoFeminism’ (XF). It introduces the idea of techno-alienation and focuses on the concept of other/diverse desires, new forms of desiring, experiencing something other (Laboria Cuboniks 2015). In this specific work, this takes the form of a technofeminism incorporating the fluid, the non-human and the diverse. In this performance, the body is fused with the technology, rather than empowered or enhanced by technology itself, body and technology become a unique actant (Latour 2009) enabling the audience to experience the sensorial assemblage as a space for communal experience with political implications. OB-scene is as an immersive environmental work where the senses, affect and memory were key features of ‘assemblage thinking’ (Hamilakis 2017).

scholarly journals [In]Corporeal Architecture: On the Clothed Body and Architectural Space

2019 ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Danica Karaičić
Keyword(s):  
Media Studies ◽  
The Body ◽  
Architectural Space ◽  
Exhibition Space

In this paper, I will discuss the clothed architectural body and how it simultaneously experiences and constructs architectural space. For this purpose, I will analyse [In]Corporeal Architecture, an art experiment that I conducted at an outdoor exhibition space called Testing Grounds in February 2018 as part of my current PhD studies in Melbourne, Australia. [In]Corporeal Architecture challenges relationships between the body, cloth and architecture. To address this complexity, I draw on Gins and Arakawa’s book Architectural Body. Article received: December 18, 2018; Article accepted: January 23, 2019; Published online: April 15, 2019; Original scholarly paperHow to cite this article: Karaičić, Danica. "[In]Corporeal Architecture: On the Clothed Body and Architectural Space." AM Journal of Art and Media Studies 18 (2019): 89–105. doi: 10.25038/am.v0i18.302

Coordinated righting behaviour in locusts

2001 ◽  
Vol 204 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.A. Faisal ◽  
T. Matheson
Keyword(s):  
Driving Force ◽  
Flat Surface ◽  
Longitudinal Axis ◽  
Upright Position ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Legged Robots ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Low Levels

A locust placed upside down on a flat surface uses a predictable sequence of leg movements to right itself. To analyse this behaviour, we made use of a naturally occurring state of quiescence (thanatosis) to position locusts in a standardised upside-down position from which they spontaneously right themselves. Locusts grasped around the pronotum enter a state of thanatosis during which the limbs can be manipulated into particular postures, where they remain, and the animal can be placed upside down on the ground. When released, thanatosis lasts 4–456 s (mean 73 s) before the animal suddenly becomes active again and rights itself within a further 600 ms. Thanatosis is characterised by very low levels of leg motor activity. During righting, one hind leg provides most of the downward force against the ground that rolls the body around a longitudinal axis towards the other side. The driving force is produced by femoral levation (relative to the body) at the trochanter and by tibial extension. As the animal rolls over, the hind leg on the other side is also levated at the trochanter, so that it does not obstruct the movement. The forelegs and middle legs are not required for successful righting but they can help initially to tip the locust to one side, and at the end of the movement they help stop the roll as the animal turns upright. Individual locusts have a preferred righting direction but can, nevertheless, roll to either side. Locusts falling upside down through the air use both passive and active mechanisms to right themselves before they land. Without active movements, falling locusts tend to rotate into an upright position, but most locusts extend their hind leg tibiae and/or spread their wings, which increases the success of mid-air righting from 28 to 49 % when falling from 30 cm. The rapid and reliable righting behaviour of locusts reduces the time spent in a vulnerable upside-down position. Their narrow body geometry, large hind legs, which can generate substantial dorsally directed force, and the particular patterns of coordinated movements of the legs on both sides of the body are the key features that permit locusts to right themselves effectively. The reliability of autonomous multi-legged robots may be enhanced by incorporating these features into their design.

Food Worker Hand Washing Practices: An Observation Study

2006 ◽  
Vol 69 (10) ◽  
pp. 2417-2423 ◽  
Author(s):  
LAURA R. GREEN ◽  
CAROL A. SELMAN ◽  
VINCENT RADKE ◽  
DANNY RIPLEY ◽  
JAMES C. MACK ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Hand Washing ◽  
Food Preparation ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Specific Work ◽  
Observation Study ◽  
Work Activity ◽  
Running Water ◽  
Work Activities ◽  
Food Workers

Improvement of food worker hand washing practices is critical to the reduction of foodborne illness and is dependent upon a clear understanding of current hand washing practices. To that end, this study collected detailed observational data on food worker hand washing practices. Food workers (n = 321) were observed preparing food, and data were recorded on specific work activities for which hand washing is recommended (e.g., food preparation, handling dirty equipment). Data were also recorded on hand washing behaviors that occurred in conjunction with these work activities. Results indicated that workers engaged in approximately 8.6 work activities per hour for which hand washing is recommended. However, workers made hand washing attempts (i.e., removed gloves, if worn, and placed hands in running water) in only 32% of these activities and washed their hands appropriately (i.e., removed gloves, if worn, placed hands in running water, used soap, and dried hands) in only 27% of these work activities. Attempted and appropriate hand washing rates varied by work activity—they were significantly higher in conjunction with food preparation than other work activities (46 versus ≤37% for attempted hand washing; 41 versus ≤30% for appropriate hand washing) and were significantly lower in conjunction with touching the body than other work activities (13 versus ≥27% for attempted hand washing; 10 versus ≥23% for appropriate hand washing). Attempted and appropriate hand washing rates were significantly lower when gloves were worn (18 and 16%) than when gloves were not worn (37 and 30%). These findings suggest that the hand washing practices of food workers need to be improved, glove use may reduce hand washing, and restaurants should consider reorganizing their food preparation activities to reduce the frequency with which hand washing is needed.

scholarly journals Motor Development: Embodied, Embedded, Enculturated, and Enabling

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen E. Adolph ◽  
Justine E. Hoch
Keyword(s):  
Skill Acquisition ◽  
Motor Development ◽  
Behavioral Flexibility ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
The Body ◽  
Psychological Development ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Motor Behaviors ◽  
Motor Skill Acquisition ◽  
Key Features

Motor development and psychological development are fundamentally related, but researchers typically consider them separately. In this review, we present four key features of infant motor development and show that motor skill acquisition both requires and reflects basic psychological functions. ( a) Motor development is embodied: Opportunities for action depend on the current status of the body. ( b) Motor development is embedded: Variations in the environment create and constrain possibilities for action. ( c) Motor development is enculturated: Social and cultural influences shape motor behaviors. ( d) Motor development is enabling: New motor skills create new opportunities for exploration and learning that instigate cascades of development across diverse psychological domains. For each of these key features, we show that changes in infants’ bodies, environments, and experiences entail behavioral flexibility and are thus essential to psychology. Moreover, we suggest that motor development is an ideal model system for the study of psychological development.

The Role of Glucocorticoids in the (Mal)adaptive Response to Traumatic Experience

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hagit Cohen ◽  
Joseph Zohar
Keyword(s):  
Stress Responses ◽  
Biological Data ◽  
The Body ◽  
Traumatic Experience ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Memory Integration ◽  
Response To Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Basic Facts

Glucocorticoids (GCs) play a major role in orchestrating the complex physiological and behavioral reactions essential for the maintenance of homeostasis. These compounds enable the organism to prepare for, respond to, and cope with the acute demands of physical and emotional stressors and enable a faster recovery with passage of the threat. A timely and an appropriate GC release commensurate with stressor severity enables the body to properly contain stress responses so as to promote recovery by rapidly restoring homeostasis. Inadequate GC release following stress not only delays recovery by disrupting biological homeostasis but can also interfere with the processing or interpretation of stressful information that results in long-term disruptions in memory integration. A salient example of such an impaired post-traumatic process is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The findings from recent animal models and translational and clinical neuroendocrine studies summarized in this chapter provide insights shedding light on the apparently contradictory studies of the HPA-axis response to stress. Also included is a review of the basic facts about PTSD and biological data.

Renaissance Psychologies

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Lanier Reid
Keyword(s):  
Wave Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
The Past ◽  
Immortal Soul ◽  
Rhythmic Cycles ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Immediate Experience ◽  
Plot Design

Thirteen writershave comprehensively explained theRenaissance scheme of physiology-psychology used for nosce teipsum, to ‘know oneself’, and other scholars have analysed key features likehumours, bodily spirits, passions, reason, inner wits, soul and spirit, mystic apprehension.Only poetswith epic scope, like Spenser and Shakespeare, depict human nature holistically, yet these finest poets have radically distinct psychologies.Spenser’s Christianised Platonism prioritises the soul, his art mirroringdivine Creation as dogmatically and encyclopedically conceived. He looks to the past, collating classical and medieval authorities in memory-devices like the figurative house, nobly ordered in triadic mystic numerical hierarchyto reform the ruins of time. Shakespeare’s sophisticated Aristoteleanism prioritises the body, highlighting physical processes and dynamic feelings of immediate experience, and subjecting them to intense, skeptical consciousness. He points to the future, using the witty ironies of popular stage productions to test and deconstruct prior authority, opening the unconscious to psychoanalysis. This polarity of psychologies is radical and profound, resembling the complementary theories of physics, structuring reality either (like Spenser) in the neatly-contained form of particle theory, or (like Shakespeare) in the rhythmic cycles of wave theory. How do we explain these distinct concepts, and how are they related? These poets’ contrary artistry appears in strikingly different versions of a ‘fairy queen’, of humour-based passions (notably the primal passion of self-love), of intellection (divergent modes of temptation and of moral resolution), of immortal soul and spirit, of holistic plot design, and of readiness for final judgment.

scholarly journals Keratin-Based Nanoparticles as Drug Delivery Carriers

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 9417
Author(s):  
Claudia Ferroni ◽  
Greta Varchi
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Biological Data ◽  
The Body ◽  
Structural Description ◽  
Structural Protein ◽  
Antimicrobial Drugs ◽  
Biological Environment ◽  
Comprehensive Framework

Keratin is a structural protein of mammalian tissues and birds, representing the principal constituent of hair, nails, skin, wool, hooves, horns, beaks, and feathers, and playing an essential role in protecting the body from external harassment. Due to its intrinsic features such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, responsiveness to specific biological environment, and physical–chemical properties, keratin has been extensively explored in the production of nanocarriers of active principles for different biomedical applications. In the present review paper, we aimed to give a literature overview of keratin-based nanoparticles produced starting from human hair, wool, and chicken feathers. Along with the chemical and structural description of keratin nanoparticles, selected in vitro and in vivo biological data are also discussed to provide a more comprehensive framework of possible fields of application of this protein. Despite the considerable number of papers describing the production and use of keratin nanoparticles as carries of anticancer and antimicrobial drugs or as hemostatic and wound healing materials, still, efforts are needed to implement keratin nanoparticles towards their clinical application.

scholarly journals From Science to Dance Ensaio Between Lab and Studio

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-243
Author(s):  
Ângelo Cid Neto
Keyword(s):  
Creative Process ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
The Body ◽  
Artistic Process ◽  
Science And Art ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
Reflection In Action ◽  
The Common ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Definition Of

Abstract This text is a reflection in action of an artistic process based on a scientific research. ENSAIO is the choreographic project that resulted from the translation mechanisms of laboratory concepts to a bodily approach, where it proposes a possible mainstreaming of artistic and scientific processes combined. This project joined artistic higher education schools in dance and scenic arts (ESD and FCSH) and Polavieja lab, a neuroscience research lab in Champalimaud Foundation – Center for the Unknown. This text aims to reveal the creative choreographic and performative potentials hidden in this scientific research concerning neurosciences. Identifying cross materials to artistic and scientific processes, it was possible to design a structure of the creation process and the construction of a choreographic performance. The common platform has been found in the process of translation and the definition of the same concept substrate, which made possible the approach of the two instances: studio and laboratory. One of its key features is the promotion of the communication among its agents: scientists and dancers. And the possibility of modelling and absorption from what it comes from this sharing and collaboration. The methods and the choreographic procedures mirrored and promoted this sharing and, therefore, the involvement of the body. Where, the body is the agent able to reflect and trigger this process, a body as an essay that is constantly in research. A body able to coordinate between various media and to expand the reflection on itself. Although science and art are individual instances that inevitably specialise and segregated away. Therefore, this text focuses on examples of cross-thinking of both scientific and artistic cultures, and the articulation of the theoretical and practical bodies in a practice-as-research on the development of the ENSAIO creative process.

iPiDi-PUL: identifying Piwi-interacting RNA-disease associations based on positive unlabeled learning

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hang Wei ◽  
Yong Xu ◽  
Bin Liu
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Disease Association ◽  
Biological Data ◽  
Sequence Information ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Challenging Problem ◽  
Disease Treatment ◽  
Disease Associations ◽  
Key Features

Abstract Accumulated researches have revealed that Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are regulating the development of germ and stem cells, and they are closely associated with the progression of many diseases. As the number of the detected piRNAs is increasing rapidly, it is important to computationally identify new piRNA-disease associations with low cost and provide candidate piRNA targets for disease treatment. However, it is a challenging problem to learn effective association patterns from the positive piRNA-disease associations and the large amount of unknown piRNA-disease pairs. In this study, we proposed a computational predictor called iPiDi-PUL to identify the piRNA-disease associations. iPiDi-PUL extracted the features of piRNA-disease associations from three biological data sources, including piRNA sequence information, disease semantic terms and the available piRNA-disease association network. Principal component analysis (PCA) was then performed on these features to extract the key features. The training datasets were constructed based on known positive associations and the negative associations selected from the unknown pairs. Various random forest classifiers trained with these different training sets were merged to give the predictive results via an ensemble learning approach. Finally, the web server of iPiDi-PUL was established at http://bliulab.net/iPiDi-PUL to help the researchers to explore the associated diseases for newly discovered piRNAs.

scholarly journals Hypoxic areas, density-dependence and food limitation drive the body condition of a heavily exploited marine fish predator

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 160416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Casini ◽  
Filip Käll ◽  
Martin Hansson ◽  
Maris Plikshs ◽  
Tatjana Baranova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Density Dependence ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Food Limitation ◽  
Biological Data ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Fish Predator ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Baltic

Investigating the factors regulating fish condition is crucial in ecology and the management of exploited fish populations. The body condition of cod ( Gadus morhua ) in the Baltic Sea has dramatically decreased during the past two decades, with large implications for the fishery relying on this resource. Here, we statistically investigated the potential drivers of the Baltic cod condition during the past 40 years using newly compiled fishery-independent biological data and hydrological observations. We evidenced a combination of different factors operating before and after the ecological regime shift that occurred in the Baltic Sea in the early 1990s. The changes in cod condition related to feeding opportunities, driven either by density-dependence or food limitation, along the whole period investigated and to the fivefold increase in the extent of hypoxic areas in the most recent 20 years. Hypoxic areas can act on cod condition through different mechanisms related directly to species physiology, or indirectly to behaviour and trophic interactions. Our analyses found statistical evidence for an effect of the hypoxia-induced habitat compression on cod condition possibly operating via crowding and density-dependent processes. These results furnish novel insights into the population dynamics of Baltic Sea cod that can aid the management of this currently threatened population.

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