Disquiet in the plasma

The metaphor of plasma is taken up to present and discuss movement and engagement by participants in mixed reality installation arts. Two works involving full body video portraits exhibited through large plasma screens in a variety of public settings are covered. Machinic mediations of video realism are considered in terms of embodied interaction in which viewer-participants contribute to the ‘disquiet’ of gendered figuring. Processural, proximal and personal aspects of responsive engagement are discussed. This is extended to performativity that may lead us to critical reflection of our own actions and responses in mixed reality arts.     

From designing objects to designing fields—from control to freedom

In this paper we want to explore Field as a concept and as a metaphor for understanding interactive systems. By interactive systems we mean both systems and artworks, where the user by interacting changes the course of events. We intend to show why we need new terms and why we consider Field to be a fruitful concept and term. Further we will show how the Field concept changes both our understanding of what we do as designers and composers and how we acknowledge our audience. We will exemplify the design consequences of the Field concept by going through some design considerations we made when designing the audio tactile installation Mufi.     

Plasma-derived proteins in airway defence, disease and repair of epithelial injury

One significant characteristic of the airway mucosa in vivo, that cannot easily be mimicked in vitro, is its microcirculation, which generates a highly dynamic, biologically active milieu of plasma-derived molecules that may pass to the airway lumen in vivo. New data on the mechanisms of airway mucosal exudation indicate that the protein systems of circulating plasma may contribute significantly to the biology and immunology of the lamina propria, its surface epithelium and the luminal surface, not only in injured airways, but also in airways that are activated but display no sign of oedema, epithelial disruption, or increased absorption capacity. We suggest that present knowledge of the mechanisms of plasma exudation, together with rapidly emerging information (not detailed herein) on receptors, target cells and cellular responses to the plasma-derived molecules, must be considered in any realistic model that investigates "immuno-inflammatory" mechanisms of the airway mucosa.     

Meal patterns in obese and normal weight men: the ''Gustaf'' study

OBJECTIVE: To compare the reported meal patterns between obese and normal weight men. DESIGN: A dietary survey, by means of 12 repeated telephone-administered 24-hour dietary recalls, was conducted in obese and normal weight men. The study period was three months with all seven days of the week included. The contribution of intake types to the reported daily energy intake (EI) was studied as well as the circadian distribution of EI and the reported number of intakes. SUBJECTS: 86 obese men (BMI 37.7 +/- 4.4 kg/m2, mean +/- SD) from the waiting list of the outpatient clinic completed the study altogether with 61 normal weight men (BMI 23.0 +/- 1.9 kg/m2), randomly selected from the Stockholm County Census Bureau. All men were 20-60 years old. RESULTS: Results were analyzed for Group A = all men who completed the study and for Group B = the men who exceeded the CUT-OFF 1 limit for energy intake (reasonably true report as defined by Goldberg). The obvious under-reporters amounted to 73% of the obese and to 28% of the normal weight men. The meal patterns were similar for the obese and the normal weight men. The greatest contributors to EI in both groups were cooked meals, sandwich meals, snacks and breakfast-like meals. The circadian eating pattern was mainly the same in both obese and normal weight men. The reported number of intakes was 5.3 (median) per day in all obese men vs 5.6 in all the controls (P = 0.02), and in Group B 5.3 s 5.9 (P = 0.16) intakes. No specific "obese eating style' could be detected in this study.     

Thermal conductivity and heat capacity of solid AgCl under pressure

Using the transient hot-wire method, measurements were made for solid AgCl of both the thermal conductivity, , and the heat capacity per unit volume, c _p, where is the mass density. Measurements were made in the temperature range 100 to 400 K, and at pressures up to 2 GPa. c _p(P, T) could be adequately described if the acoustic modes were represented by a Debye model and the optic modes by an Einstein model. Analysis of (T) showed that only the acoustic modes needed to be taken into account up to 300 K, but that the optic modes were increasingly effective in carrying heat at higher temperatures. (P) was adequately described by the Lawson formula, but not by the Leibfried-Schlömann formula, to which it is formally equivalent. Agreement with experiment could be achieved by two different modifications of the Leibfried-Schlömann formula, although neither has a firm theoretical basis.     

New method for selectivity enhancement of SiC field effect gas sensors for quantification of NO x

A silicon carbide based enhancement type metal insulator field effect transistor with porous gate metallization has been investigated as a total NO _x sensor operated in a temperature cycling mode. This operating mode is quite new for gas sensors based on the field effect but promising results have been reported earlier. Based on static investigations we have developed a suitable T-cycle optimized for NO _x detection and quantification in a mixture of typical exhaust gases (CO, C₂H₄, and NH₃). Significant features describing the shape of the sensor response have been extracted and evaluated with multivariate statistics (e.g. linear discriminant analysis) allowing quantification of NO _x . Additional cleaning-cycles every 30?min improve the stability of the sensor further. With this kind of advanced signal processing the influence of sensor drift and cross sensitivity to ambient gases can be reduced effectively. Measurements have proven that different concentrations of NO _x can be detected even in a changing mixture of other typical exhaust gases under dry and humid conditions. In addition to that, unknown concentrations of NO _x can be detected based on a small set of training data. It can be concluded that the performance of GasFETs for NO _x determination can be enhanced considerably with temperature cycling and appropriate signal processing.     

FETI‐DP,BDDC, and block Cholesky methods

The FETI‐DP and BDDC algorithms are reformulated using Block Cholesky factorizations, an approach which can provide a useful framework for the design of domain decomposition algorithms for solving symmetric positive definite linear system of equations. Instead of introducing Lagrange multipliers to enforce the coarse level, primal continuity constraints in these algorithms, a change of variables is used such that each primal constraint corresponds to an explicit degree of freedom. With the new formulation of these algorithms, a simplified proof is provided that the spectra of a pair of FETI‐DP and BDDC algorithms, with the same set of primal constraints, are essentially the same. Numerical experiments for a two‐dimensional Laplace's equation also confirm this result. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determination of Inclusion Characteristics in the Asea‐SKF Process using the Modified Spark‐Induced OES Technique as a Complement in Studying the Influence of Top Slag Composition

The spark‐induced modified optical emission spectroscopy (OES) technique developed by Ovako Steel makes it possible to rapidly determine inclusion characteristics in steel samples. In earlier investigations using the modified spark‐induced OES technique for steel samples taken from billets, predicted oxygen contents agreed well with results from conventional melt extraction analyses. In this investigation, samples taken during ladle treatment in an ASEA‐SKF ladle furnace were analysed using the modified OES technique. When comparing the results with inclusion characteristics determined by conventional analysis, similar trends were found. Plant trials were also carried out where three different top slag compositions were used. The purpose was to evaluate if the modified OES technique can be used to study the effect of changes in the refining operation on inclusion characteristics. Results indicated that the modified OES technique could be used to determine the effect of a changed slag composition on the inclusion characteristics in the steel. Since the modified OES method provides rapid feedback of inclusion characteristics, it has the potential of being used for faster optimisation of ladle refining operations.