The COVID-19 War in Ceramic Arts: Navigating Aesthetic and Symbolic Expressions

This paper reports on the production of a ceramic installation artwork that explores the story of the COVID-19 pandemic experienced by people throughout the world. The work is a symbolic expression in the form of a set of ceramic art models that portray the story of the battle between positive and negative values, expressed through a 3-dimensional visual ceramic installation consisting of an arrangement of statues that portray an imaginary battle between COVID-19 troops and Lord Krishna. The method used in the process of creating this work was a creative approach that combined appreciation and interpretation of the object of the creative idea. The artwork was made of plastic clay taken from the southern area of Malang regency, East Java, Indonesia, which was formed using a manual technique of direct hand massage and fired at a temperature of 900 °C. The COVID-19 phenomenon is imagined and visualized as a ceramic installation sculpture consisting of the imaginative figures of COVID-19 troops, led by the king of COVID-19 who is shown fighting with Lord Krishna. The result is a visual expression of the COVID-19 troops and their king, in several imaginative forms, carrying various weapons of war, in combat with the imaginary figure of Lord Krishna. The distinction of this work is its portrayal of a battle between positive and negative forces that have become a part of human life during the COVID-19 pandemic, expressed in a symbolic visual narrative through the arrangement of a set of ceramic sculptures.

Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity Variation of Expansive Yazoo Clay with Wet-Dry Cycles

Expansive soils are subjected to shrink-swell behavior with moisture variation in Mississippi, United States. With successive moisture and temperature variations over the seasons, the hydraulic conductivity of expansive soil is subjected to change because of the development of shrinkage cracks, which can be as large as as 1.2 cm wide and 1.5 m deep in the field, affecting the vertical hydraulic conductivity (Kv), whereas the horizontal hydraulic conductivity (Kh) remains fairly constant. The current study intends to investigate the hydraulic conductivity of highly expansive Yazoo clay at different wet-dry cycles. To observe the changes in the hydraulic conductivity with different wet-dry cycles in the laboratory, an instantaneous profile method to measure the permeability was utilized. Compacted Yazoo clay samples at different initial moisture content instrumented with moisture sensors at different depths to monitor changes in the moisture content were investigated. The samples were subjected to one, two, and three numbers (1N, 2N, and 3N) of wetting and drying cycles. For the drying process, testing chambers are kept in a controlled high-temperature booth of about 37°C simulating high summer temperatures in Mississippi. After the end of the wet-dry cycles, the test is performed to investigate the changes in the hydraulic conductivity of soil with the presence of shrinkage cracks. The hydraulic conductivity of highly plastic clay is very low at a fully compacted state and was observed to be (1.0×10-8 cm/s) at the 1N wetting phase. However, with an increment in the wet-dry cycles, the Kv of Yazoo clay increases (3.70×10-4 cm/s) after the sample is exposed to three wet-dry cycles. Even though the changes in the Kv of highly plastic clay define the infiltration behavior, which mostly controls the slope failure and pavement distress, consideration of the climatic loads is ignored in the design phase of the highway embankment and levees. By inclusion of the climatic variation, and evaluating the performance, the design life and resilience of the structures can be significantly increased

Progressive Development of the Perched Water Zone in Highway Slopes Made of Highly Plastic Clay

Based on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data, after Hawaii and Louisiana, Mississippi is the rainiest state in the United States, having the most peak precipitation that occurs mainly in late winter. Development of perched water (DPW) has had a remarkable effect on the service life of highway slopes constructed on expansive clay. The objective of the current study is to map the DPW condition at highway slopes made of highly plastic clay (HPC) in Mississippi. Several highway slopes that are made of HPC in Jackson, MS, were instrumented using moisture sensors, water potential probes, and rain gauges. Based on the field investigations, it has been observed that a perched water condition exists in all the slopes constructed of Yazoo clay. To investigate the DPW condition and map the accumulation of the water within the slopes, a series of flow analyses have been conducted using the finite element method in Plaxis. The flow analysis is conducted considering the shrink/swell behavior of the Yazoo clay with the real-time rainfall events, as observed in the rain gauges. The numerical analysis was in good agreement with field monitoring results. Based on the analysis, it is observed that rainwater accumulated during the summer to fall season because of a high infiltration rate with the presence of desiccation cracks. On the other hand, the low permeability situation during the spring held the percolated water within the slopes. Repeated events of infiltration and water hold-up condition progressively develop the perched water zone in the slopes made of Yazoo clay.