Automobile-Speed Estimation Using Movie-film Simulation

A silent movie film made by shooting through the windscreen of a car driven at different constant speeds was shown in an auditorium, and subjects asked to estimate the speed of the car. Of the 70 subjects who participated, 35 sat at the front and the remainder at the back.

The speed estimates of those seated at the back were, on average, some 11 per cent higher than those at the front. An explanation for this effect is given. It is shown that those at the correct perspective distance from the screen ( in the present case, those at the front) will receive an impression of speed which most closely resembles the actual speed of the car.

The speed estimates from the front of the auditorium most closely resembled those observed in an earlier field experiment when the subjects' hearing was diminished. It is concluded that the movie technique provides a good simulation of the task in the field experiment if the following two qualifications are made. First, the movie must be viewed from close to the correct perspective distance. Second, a silent movie corresponds to the real situation in which the observer is prevented from hearing.     

Upgrading Computational Design

Shajay Bhooshan heads up the computation and design ZHACODE group at Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) and is a course master at the Architectural Association Design Research Laboratory (AADRL). Here he argues that Parametricism 2.0 has a vital role to play in the progressing of computational design. Assimilating the exploratory developments of the last 15 years, he asserts how the next phase of Parametricism will enable a further consolidation and evolution of digital practices.     

female figurines in early christian egypt: reconstructing lost practices and meanings

Abstract

This paper addresses the great diversity of female figurines produced during the Christian period (iv–vii ce) in Egypt, from Aswan to Karanis to the Abu Mina pilgrimage city. While not documented in any texts, by their sheer number the figurines offer important evidence of local religious practices performed under the aegis of Christianity (e.g., at saints’ shrines) yet without any ostensible connection to Christian liturgy or mythology. Their usage seems to have been predominantly votive, signifying a desired procreative body to deposit in hope, while the diversity of figurines points to an autochthonous, rather than imported or imposed, ritual tradition. The paper, part of a larger project on the local sites of Christianization, uses these figurines and their forms to reconstruct the iconographic strategies of the workshop, the ritual procedures of the client or ritual subject (at shrine or tomb), and the nature of domestic altars as stages for images.     

当一切都合为整体 ——克里斯蒂安·克雷兹访谈

本文是对克里斯蒂安·克雷兹进行的访谈。"整体"的概念体现在访谈的方方面面之中:克雷兹的建筑学习开始于在类比建筑学影响下,将建筑理解为一个整体的设计方法;在他当下思考中,整体是对于空间本质的根本认知,建筑的外观变化源于空间认知的整体逻辑而不是碎片式的风格转变;在他从概念到实践的工作方式中,整体的概念体现在对于感性一以贯之的坚持;在他的实践项目,尤其是中国的竞赛项目中,整体是对于建筑与社会问题的综合思考,其新近完成中国美术学院良渚校区竞赛的综合体量也是这点的体现之一。     

Caring through technology: Using e-mail for Christian pastoral care

Traditionally, Christian pastoral care has always been given face-to-face. However, since the Internet made e-mail a common form of correspondence, people have been e-mailing friends to discuss problems and other matters. More formal pastoral care, involving a pastoral minister, has generally remained a face-to-face occurrence. This article explores the possibility of e-mail being used for Christian pastoral care and evaluates one such system being operated in the United Kingdom. The results show that with an empathic and positive response to the e-mails by the pastoral minister, e-mail pastoral care can increase positive emotion, and hence well-being, in the person seeking care. In addition, the religious aspect of Christian pastoral care seems to be important in initialising the minister-person relationship.     

Reconsidering the sauce: A comment on Floyd.

Comments on the article Fundamentalism: Sauce for the goose by K. Floyd (see record 2007-09680-001). Floyd reminds us that the application of a little logic to the propositions we claim are true can sometimes show us that our beliefs are untenable, and that such a finding "could turn out to be very freeing indeed". In particular, he uses one of the arguments some of us struggled with the first time we met logic as a discipline: If P is true then Q is true. Q isn't true. Therefore, P isn't true. Floyd applies this principle to religious belief: If I believe that P is true and Q is true when in fact P implies that 0 is false then I am truly inconsistent! He also shows how easily we are willing to use such logic on the beliefs of others but not on our own beliefs. The current authors' attempt to demonstrate that Floyd makes several questionable steps in his reasoning, thereby calling into question the conclusions he draws. Floyd has sought to point out the lack of thought behind numerous religious beliefs. The current authors accept this general observation, but they believe it unfair to attribute this difficulty only to religious beliefs. The difficulty with religious beliefs is not that they are not concerned with truth vs. non-truth, but rather that for a number of reasons, the difference between these two poles is often not obvious. The question of the validity of religious beliefs is a philosophically spiny one that has been addressed, sometimes adequately and sometimes in very illogical, emotional and violent fashions, for thousands of years. It seems obvious to the authors that "three minutes thought" is not sufficient to untangle such an issue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Digital Solipsisim and the Paradox of the Great ‘Forgetting’

Neil Spiller counters the main theme of this issue by questioning the dominant focus on production and new technologies in architectural culture, which places a premium on the generation of ‘ever more gratuitous complex surfaces and structures’. Could this inward-looking emphasis on process and obsessive love of new technologies be at the expense of the final product? Are we in danger of producing artefacts that lose sight of human expression and poetics in the competitive drive for greater complexity? Are we, in fact, heading towards a great ‘forgetting’ in which humanity is subtracted from the architectural product?     

A pragmatic approach to church construction in Northern China at the time of Christian inculturation: The handbook “Le missionnaire constructeur”, 1926

In 1926, French Jesuit missionaries from Daming published at Xianxian (Hebei province) a little handbook for church construction in Northern China: “Le missionnaire constructeur, conseils-plans” (“The missionary builder: advice-plans”), containing 67 pages of text and 54 plates. After a short introduction about handbooks and pattern books of churches, this paper describes and analyses the handbook׳s content and its different practical aspects about building materials, masonry, roofs, etc. The book, however, is more than a compilation of technical hints and reveals a lot about the missionaries’ perception of Chinese building traditions as well as the transmission of Western techniques to Chinese workers. The paper also contextualizes the handbook and tries to identify both the authors and the addressees. In the mid-1920s, the Vatican launched the Christian inculturation process in China, which concerned architecture too. Nevertheless, many missionaries resisted, preferring Gothic or Italianate architecture to a new Sino-Christian style. The handbook participated in this debate.     

教会大学的演变过程及其对现代高等教育发展的启示

教会大学是西方列强侵略中国的伴生物。从教会大学与中国高等教育体系的融合演变过程来看,大致可以划分为游离、逐渐纳入、完全融合三个阶段,这一变化过程受到中国的文化、民族主义、政治以及时代要求等因素的影响。从客观上来说,教会大学是我国高等教育走向现代化的催化剂,对我们当前如何发展高等教育仍然具有启示作用。