But, What Actually Happens When We Engage with “Art”?

In this chapter, the authors report on how they joined in the exciting project to lay the theoretical foundations describing aesthetic experiences with artwork. Their 2017 paper was a culmination of meetings, later intense collaboration in Vienna’s empirical aesthetic research group, and the convergence of the models that the authors had independently developed in the past. The joint model described here was a major development that included a pre-state incorporating schemas (working maps of the world, expectations, beliefs, cued behaviors, actions, meanings, responses, and a general idea of self) that one might bring to an art encounter and also addressed the implications of different outcomes from all engagements, with especially visual media. The authors’ general aim was to answer what, broadly speaking, could happen when individuals encounter any design or visual art.

Digital creation: possible (and achievable) futures

During the last year, science and technology have been playing an indispensable role in a difficult and complex context. All areas of our lives have been forced to adapt to digital processes at an accelerated pace. Faced with an obvious economic and social transformation, we want to consider the state of culture and creation, one of the sectors hardest hit by the crisis. Specifically, we are interested in focusing on the particular situation of digital creation, devastated especially by the lack of protection and funding, by the closure of galleries and specialised spaces. It is not a question of starting from scratch. Future possibilities must be presented as opportunities. First, by analysing what has been learned, experienced and discussed so far before and during the pandemic. From there, we must identify, on the one hand, the direct consequences of the pandemic, and on the other, the problems arising from the acceleration of the digital transformation. Especially in those aspects that allow us to relaunch and promote new lines of work, heterogeneous initiatives, or new methodologies while always bearing in mind that this knowledge and experience has to settle and survive under the rules of the digital economy. Both the creation and consumption of content requires new digital, communication, entrepreneurial and commercial skills. Let us look for new perspectives, let us face the transversality that the hybridisation between art, science and technology can offer. Let us analyse and share with all those involved in all the creative processes and avoid going back into a loop. We are facing a complicated and risky, but exciting project. It is more necessary than ever to learn from mistakes, and to extract the value of certain experiences related to digital art. And, above all, let us not forget two of the most important components: to value the creators, to recover the public, and to attract those who have never felt attracted by these types of artistic practices. Let us look for and share the way to encourage and promote new contents and scenarios.

Catalyzing rapid discovery of gold-precipitating bacterial lineages with university students

Intriguing and potentially commercially useful microorganisms are found in our surroundings and new tools allow us to learn about their genetic potential and evolutionary history. Engaging students from different disciplines and courses in the search for microbes requires an exciting project with innovative but straightforward procedures and goals. Here we describe an interdisciplinary program to engage students from different courses in the sampling, identification and analysis of the DNA sequences of a unique yet common microbe, Delftia spp. A campus-wide challenge was created to identify the prevalence of this genus, able to precipitate gold, involving introductory level environmental and life science courses, upper-level advanced laboratory modules taken by undergraduate students (juniors and seniors), graduate students and staff from the campus. The number of participants involved allowed for extensive sampling while undergraduate researchers and students in lab-based courses participated in the sample processing and analyses, helping contextualize and solidify their learning of the molecular biology techniques. The results were shared at each step through publicly accessible websites and workshops. This model allows for the rapid discovery of Delftia presence and prevalence and is adaptable to different campuses and experimental questions.

Imperial Boredom

Imperial Boredom offers a radical reconsideration of the British Empire during its heyday in the nineteenth century. Challenging the long-established view that the empire was about adventure and excitement, with heroic men and intrepid women settling new lands and spreading commerce and civilization around the globe, this analysis instead argues that boredom was central to the experience of empire. It looks at what it was actually like to sail to Australia, to serve as a soldier in South Africa, or to accompany a colonial official to the hill stations of India, arguing that for numerous men and women, from governors to convicts, explorers to tourists, the Victorian empire was dull and disappointing. Drawing on diaries, letters, memoirs, and travelogues, it demonstrates that all across the empire, men and women found the landscapes monotonous, the physical and psychological distance from home debilitating, the routines of everyday life wearisome, and their work unfulfilling. Ocean voyages were tedious; colonial rule was bureaucratic; warfare was infrequent; economic opportunity was limited; and indigenous people were largely invisible. The seventeenth-century empire may have been about wonder and marvel, but the Victorian empire was a far less exciting project. Combining individual stories of pain and perseverance with broader analysis, this book traces the emergence of boredom as a human emotion, while simultaneously explaining what these expressions of boredom reveal about the British Empire.

Transforming BVA headquarters

BVA is embarking on an exciting project to transform its headquarters in London, writes Chief Executive David Calpin.

Introduction

This chapter introduces the theme of the book: scientific understanding. Science is arguably the most successful product of the human desire for understanding. Reflection on the nature of scientific understanding is an important and exciting project for philosophers of science, as well as for scientists and interested laypeople. As a first illustration of this, the chapter sketches an episode from the history of science in which discussions about understanding played a crucial role: the genesis of quantum mechanics in the 1920s, and the heated debates about the intelligibility of this theory and the related question of whether it can provide understanding. This case shows that standards of intelligibility of scientists can vary strongly. Furthermore, the chapter outlines and defends the way in which this study approaches its subject, differing essentially from mainstream philosophical discussions of explanatory understanding. It concludes with an overview of the contents of the book.

Novel targeted therapies for cancer cachexia

Anorexia and metabolic alterations are the main components of the cachectic syndrome. Glucose intolerance, fat depletion, muscle protein catabolism and other alterations are involved in the development of cancer cachexia, a multi-organ syndrome. Nutritional approach strategies are not satisfactory in reversing the cachectic syndrome. The aim of the present review is to deal with the recent therapeutic targeted approaches that have been designed to fight and counteract wasting in cancer patients. Indeed, some promising targeted therapeutic approaches include ghrelin agonists, selective androgen receptor agonists, β-blockers and antimyostatin peptides. However, a multi-targeted approach seems absolutely essential to treat patients affected by cancer cachexia. This approach should not only involve combinations of drugs but also nutrition and an adequate program of physical exercise, factors that may lead to a synergy, essential to overcome the syndrome. This may efficiently reverse the metabolic changes described above and, at the same time, ameliorate the anorexia. Defining this therapeutic combination of drugs/nutrients/exercise is an exciting project that will stimulate many scientific efforts. Other aspects that will, no doubt, be very important for successful treatment of cancer wasting will be an optimized design of future clinical trials, together with a protocol for staging cancer patients in relation to their degree of cachexia. This will permit that nutritional/metabolic/pharmacological support can be started early in the course of the disease, before severe weight loss occurs. Indeed, timing is crucial and has to be taken very seriously when applying the therapeutic approach.

Cooperation and Consumerism: Lessons Learned at a Kindergarten Mini Mall

Sophie drapes a six-foot-long boa constrictor over her shoulders and smiles widely, pleased with her new purchase from Jimmy, the shopkeeper at the toy store. Zoë helps Joseph count out a nickel and three pennies to buy a coveted Santa Bear, and Morgan is excited about the slightly worn plaid tie he bought for his dad. These images of children engaged in hands-on learning come to mind when I think about the kindergarten mini-mall: an interactive, real-world application of many skills and concepts. Students work cooperatively to create storefronts, collect and classify items to sell at their stores, and use money as both customers and shopkeepers to make purchases. My team member, Lou Toscano, and I look forward to the start of this exciting project each spring.

Shared Action: Stronger communities, safer children

This article explores the effectiveness of an innovative and exciting project called ‘Shared Action’, a community development approach to child protection in Bendigo, Victoria. Shared Action was a three-year project which started in January 1997. It began by encouraging a sense of community ownership. A shared vision was developed with key goals leading to a wide range of community activities. A sense of hope and cooperation grew along with social networks, the capacity to resolve conflict constructively and a shared sense of community responsibility.