Balls up : the converse blank canvas project

Research background: For decades the Chuck Taylor All Star basketball shoe (first designed in 1921 by Converse, an American shoe company), has been an iconic item of fashion apparel, particularly for the youth oriented market - as a form of self expression and identify, adolescents have for generations been customising their Converse sneakers to create innovative and unique footwear. Although originally developed purely for sport, sneakers gradually crossed over into fashion and the majority of athletic shoes are now purchased for street fashion or leisure wear. Artisan Gallery (Brisbane), in conjunction with the exhibition Reboot: Function, Fashion and the Sneaker, a history of the sneaker, selected 20 designers to customise and re-design the classic Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars shoe and in doing so highlighted the diversity of forms possible for creative outcomes. As Artisan Gallery Curator Kirsten Fitzpatrick states “the ‘sports show’, designed to coincide with the Olympics, is also about exploring the sneaker as a platform for creativity... and (one) of the more bazaar creations was Dean Brough's deconstructed shoes to make men’s underwear.” The exhibition ran from 21 June – 16 August 2012: http://artisan-ideaskillproduct.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/converse-blank-canvas-project.html Research question: Even though the sneaker is a fashion item, it still is fundamentally used for foot protection and historically was aligned to ball sports, principally Basketball - as a fashion designers/practitioner how can I connect (in a whimsical manner) this history of usage for ball sports to the sneaker and re-design and re-use all the physical elements of the shoe to produce a unique wearable item of clothing - the selected medium for this challenge and experimentation was the classic archetypal men’s white boxer shorts. Artisan Statement BALLS UP - The Converse Sneaker, it’s almost impossible to imagine a better rounded item to maintain peak performance for all types of ball sports. Gentlemen, your other most precious balls also deserve this level of comfort and support to sustain the hard times – the Converse Boxer, balls up, bats out, get ready to play hard. Research contribution: The project highlighted some of the unique and diverse creative manifestations that are possible from the classic sneaker. From a fashion practitioners’ perspective, the design outcomes (men’s boxer short made from converse sneakers) demonstrated the strong association to iconic fashion apparel, and recognised the connection to wearability and comfort that is requisite in both footwear and men’s underwear. Research significance: The exhibition was viewed by in excess of 1000 people and generated exceptional media coverage and public exposure/impact. As Artisan Gallery Curator Kirsten Fitzpatrick states “20 of Brisbane's best designers were given the opportunity to customise their own Converse Sneakers, with The Converse Blank Canvas Project.” And to be selected in this category demonstrates the calibre of importance for design prominence.

Converse consumption : the converse blank canvas project

Research background For almost 80 years the Chuck Taylor (or Chuck T's) All Star basketball shoe has been an iconic item of fashion apparel. The Chuck T's were first designed in 1921 by Converse, an American shoe company and over the decades they became a popular item not purely for sports and athletic purposes but rather evolved into the shoe of choice for many subcultural groups as a fashion item. In some circles the Chuck Taylor is still seen as the "coolest" sneaker of all time - one which will never go out of fashion regardless of changing trends. With over 600 millions pairs sold all over the world since its release, the Converse shoe is representative of not only a fashion culture - but also of a consumption culture - that evolved as the driving force behind the massive growth of the Western economic system during the 20th Century. Artisan Gallery (Brisbane), in conjunction with the exhibition Reboot: Function, Fashion and the Sneaker, a history of the sneaker, selected 20 designers to customise and re-design the classic Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars shoe and in doing so highlighted the diversity of forms possible for creative outcomes. As Artisan Gallery Curator Kirsten Fitzpatrick states “We were expecting people to draw and paint on them. Instead, we had shoes... mounted as trophies.." referring to the presentation of "Converse Consumption". The exhibition ran from 21 June – 16 August 2012: Research question The Chuck T’s is one of many overwhelmingly commercially successful designs of the last century. Nowadays we are faced with the significant problems of overconsumption and the stress this causes on the natural ecosystem; and on people as a result. As an active member of the industrial design fraternity – a discipline that sits at the core of this problem - how can I use this opportunity to comment on the significant issue of consumption? An effective way to do this was to associate consumption of goods with consumption of sugar. There are significant similarities between our ceaseless desires to consume products and our fervent need to consume indulgent sweet foods. Artisan Statement Delicious, scrumptious, delectable... your pupils dilate, your blood pressure spikes, your liver goes into overdrive. Immediately, your brain cuts off the adenosine receptors, preventing drowsiness. Your body increases dopamine production, in-turn stimulating the pleasure receptors in your brain. Your body absorbs all the sweetness and turns it into fat – while all the nutrients that you actually require are starting to be destroyed, about to be expelled. And this is only after one bite! After some time though, your body comes crashing back to earth. You become irritable and begin to feel sluggish. Your eyelids seem heavy while your breathing pattern changes. Your body has consumed all the energy and destroyed all available nutrients. You literally begin to shut down. These are the physiological effects of sugar consumption. A perfect analogy for our modern day consumer driven world. Enjoy your dessert! Research contribution “Converse Consumption” contributes to the conversation regarding over-consumption by compelling people to reflect on their consumption behaviour through the reconceptualising of the deconstructed Chuck T’s in an attractive edible form. By doing so the viewer has to deal with the desire to consume the indulgent looking dessert with the contradictory fact that it is comprised of a pair of shoes. The fact that the shoes are Chuck T’s make the effect even more powerful due to their iconic status. These clashing motivations are what make “Converse Consumption” a bizarre yet memorable experience. Significance The exhibition was viewed by an excess of 1000 people and generated exceptional media coverage and public exposure/impact. As Artisan Gallery Curator Kirsten Fitzpatrick states “20 of Brisbane's best designers were given the opportunity to customise their own Converse Sneakers, with The Converse Blank Canvas Project.” And to be selected in this category demonstrates the calibre of importance for design prominence.

Converse Bergmann cline in a eucalyptus herbivore, paropsis atomaria olivier (coleoptera: chrysomelidae) : phenotypic plasticity or local adaptation?

Aim To measure latitude-related body size variation in field-collected Paropsis atomaria Olivier (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) individuals and to conduct common-garden experiments to determine whether such variation is due to phenotypic plasticity or local adaptation. Location Four collection sites from the east coast of Australia were selected for our present field collections: Canberra (latitude 35°19' S), Bangalow (latitude 28°43' S), Beerburrum (latitude 26°58' S) and Lowmead (latitude 24°29' S). Museum specimens collected over the past 100 years and covering the same geographical area as the present field collections came from one state, one national and one private collection. Methods Body size (pronotum width) was measured for 118 field-collected beetles and 302 specimens from collections. We then reared larvae from the latitudinal extremes (Canberra and Lowmead) to determine whether the size cline was the result of phenotypic plasticity or evolved differences (= local adaptation) between sites. Results Beetles decreased in size with increasing latitude, representing a converse Bergmann cline. A decrease in developmental temperature produced larger adults for both Lowmead (low latitude) and Canberra (high latitude) individuals, and those from Lowmead were larger than those from Canberra when reared under identical conditions. Main conclusions The converse Bergmann cline in P. atomaria is likely to be the result of local adaptation to season length.

Converse results to the Wiener attack on RSA

A well-known attack on RSA with low secret-exponent d was given by Wiener about 15 years ago. Wiener showed that using continued fractions, one can efficiently recover the secret-exponent d from the public key (N,e) as long as d < N 1/4. Interestingly, Wiener stated that his attack may sometimes also work when d is slightly larger than N 1/4. This raises the question of how much larger d can be: could the attack work with non-negligible probability for d=N 1/4 + ρ for some constant ρ > 0? We answer this question in the negative by proving a converse to Wiener’s result. Our result shows that, for any fixed ε > 0 and all sufficiently large modulus lengths, Wiener’s attack succeeds with negligible probability over a random choice of d < N δ (in an interval of size Ω(N δ )) as soon as δ > 1/4 + ε. Thus Wiener’s success bound dconverse result for a natural class of extensions of the Wiener attack, which are guaranteed to succeed even when δ > 1/4. The known attacks in this class (by Verheul and Van Tilborg and Dujella) run in exponential time, so it is natural to ask whether there exists an attack in this class with subexponential run-time. Our second converse result answers this question also in the negative.

Ending the life of the act/omission dispute: Causation in withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining measures

My aim in this paper is to challenge the increasingly common view in the literature that the law on end of life decision making is in disarray and is in need of urgent reform. My argument is that this assessment of the law is based on assumptions about the relationship between the identity of the defendant and their conduct, and about the nature of causation, which, on examination, prove to be indefensible. I then provide a clarification of the relationship between causation and omissions which proves that the current legal position does not need modification, at least on the grounds that are commonly advanced for the converse view. This enables me, in conclusion, to clarify important conceptual and moral differences between withholding, refusing and withdrawing life-sustaining measures on the one hand, and assisted suicide and euthanasia, on the other.

Engaging Noemi Lakmeier's living installations : the ethics of embarrassment

In Exercise in Losing Control (2007) and We Are for You Because We are Against Them (2010), Austrian-born artist Noemi Lakmaier represents Otherness – and, in particular, the experience of Otherness as one of being vulnerable, dependent or visibly different from everyone else in a social situation – by placing first herself then a group of participants in big circular balls she calls ‘Weebles’. In doing so, Lakmaier depicts Otherness as an absurd, ambiguous or illegible element in otherwise everyday ‘living installations’ in which people meet, converse, dine and connect with spectators and passersby on the street. In this paper I analyse the way spectators and passersby respond to the weeble-wearers. Not surprisingly, responses vary – from people who hurry away, to people who try to talk to the weeble-wearer, to people who try to kick or tip the weeble to test its reality. The not-quite-normal situation, and the visibility of the spectators in the situation, asks spectators to rehearse their response to corporeal differences that might be encountered in day-to-day life. As the range of comments, confrontations and struggles show, the situation transfers the ill-at-ease, embarrassed and awkward aspects of dealing with corporeal difference from the disabled performer to the able spectator-become-performer. In this paper, I theorise some of the self-conscious spectatorial responses this sort of work can provoke in terms of an ethics of embarrassment. As the Latin roots of the word attest, embarrassment is born of a block, barrier or obstacle to move smoothly through a social or communicative encounter. In Lakmaier’s work, a range of potential blocks present themselves. The spectators’ responses – from ignoring the weeble, to querying the weeble, to asking visual, verbal or physical questions about how the weeble works, and so on – are ways of managing the interruption and moving forward. They are, I argue, strategies for moving from confusion to comprehension, or from what Emmanuel Levinas would call an encounter with the unknown to back into the horizon of the known, classified and classifiable. They flag the potential for what Levinas would call an ethical face-to-face encounter with the Other in which spectators and passersby may unexpectedly find themselves in a vulnerable position.

Mobility of the creative class and city attractiveness : a case study of Chinese animation workers

Abstract: The paper investigates the geographical mobility of creative workers in China,focusing on the authors’ survey of workers in the animation industry. More specifically,the authors use the Reilly-Converse model and GIS tools to probe the locational choices of Chinese animation workers in Beijing and Shanghai by analyzing such factors of spatial attractiveness as home town, place of residence, and university from which the worker graduated. The paper compares the creative milieus in Beijing and Shanghai, and demonstrates that the “personal trajectory” of human capital is a key determinant of occupational location. The results of the authors’ survey highlight the limitations of Richard Florida’s 3T theory in the Chinese context.

Specialist versus generic models of psychiatry training and service provision for people with intellectual disabilities

Background  Models of service provision and professional training differ between countries. This study aims to investigate a specialist intellectual disabilities model and a generic mental health model, specifically comparing psychiatrists’ knowledge and competencies, and service quality and accessibility in meeting the mental health needs of people with intellectual disabilities. Method  Data were collected from consultant and trainee psychiatrists within a specialist intellectual disabilities model (UK) and a generic mental health model (Australia). Results  The sample sizes were 294 (UK) and 205 (Australia). Statistically significant differences were found, with UK participants having positive views about the specialist intellectual disabilities service model they worked within, demonstrating flexible and accessible working practices and service provision, responsive to the range of mental health needs of the population with intellectual disabilities, and providing a wide range of treatments and supports. The UK participants were knowledgeable, well trained and confident in their work. They wanted to work with people with intellectual disabilities. In all of these areas, the converse was found from the Australian generic mental health service model. Conclusions  The specialist intellectual disabilities model of service provision and training has advantages over the generic mental health model.

Rendering to Caesar and God : St Paul, the natural law tradition and the authority of law

The question of the authority of law has occupied and vexed the literature and philosophy of law for centuries. Law is something that characteristically implies obedience, but the precise nature of law’s authority remains contentious. The return to the writings of the Apostle Paul in contemporary philosophy, theology and jurisprudence begs attention in relation to the authority of law, and so this article will consider his analysis and critique of law with a focus on his Epistle to the Romans. It argues that Paul’s conception of the authority of law is explained on the basis that the law is from God, it externally sanctions obedience by virtue of the civil authorities, and it convicts internally in conscience. This triad is justified by the law of love (‘‘love your neighbor as yourself’’), and will be explained in relation to the natural law tradition as well as converse ideas in positivism. Hence, considering the reasoning of Paul in relation to traditional jurisprudential themes and the law of love provides a useful alternative analysis and basis for further investigation regarding the authority of law and the need for its obedience.

Functional immunoglobulin E cross-reactivity between Pas n 1 of Bahia grass pollen and other group 1 grass pollen allergens

Background Grass pollens are major triggers of allergic rhinitis and asthma, but the immunological relationships between pollen allergens of the subtropical Bahia grass, Paspalum notatum, and temperate grasses are unresolved. Objective To assess serum IgE cross-reactivity between subtropical P. notatum and temperate Lolium perenne (Ryegrass) pollen allergens. Methods Serum IgE reactivities of grass pollen-allergic patients with P. notatum, L. perenne and Cynodon dactylon (Bermuda grass) pollen extracts and their respective purified group 1 allergens, Pas n 1, Lol p 1 and Cyn d 1, were compared by immunoblotting, ELISA and basophil activation. Results In a cohort of 51 patients from a temperate region, a high frequency of IgE reactivity with each grass pollen was detected, but reactivity with L. perenne pollen was substantially greater than with P. notatum and C. dactylon pollen. Similarly, serum IgE reactivity with Lol p 1 was greater than with Pas n 1 or Cyn d 1. For seven of eight sera studied in detail, asymmetric serum IgE cross-reactivity was observed; L. perenne pollen inhibited IgE reactivity with P. notatum pollen but not the converse, and IgE reactivity with Pas n 1 was inhibited by Lol p 1 but IgE reactivity with Lol p 1 was not inhibited by Pas n 1 or Cyn d 1. Importantly, P. notatum pollen and Pas n 1 activated basophils in grass pollen-allergic patients from a temperate region, although stimulation was greater by pollen of L. perenne than P. notatum or C. dactylon, and by Lol p 1 than Pas n 1 or Cyn d 1. In contrast, a cohort of 47 patients from a subtropical region showed similar IgE reactivity with P. notatum and L. perenne pollen, and reciprocal cross-inhibition of IgE reactivity between L. perenne and P. notatum. Conclusions Pollen allergens of the subtropical P. notatum, including Pas n 1, show clinically relevant IgE cross-reactivity with pollen allergens of L. perenne but also species-specific IgE reactivity.

IgE cross-reactivity between Pas n 1 of Bahia grass pollen and other group 1 grass pollen allergens

Background The subtropical Bahia grass (Paspalum notatum) is an important source of pollen allergens with an extended season of pollination and wide distribution in warmer climates. The immunological relationship between pollen allergens of Bahia grass and temperate grasses is unresolved. Methods Serum IgE reactivity of grass pollen-allergic patients with Bahia, Ryegrass and Bermuda grass pollen extracts and their purified group 1 allergens, Pas n 1, Lol p 1 and Cyn d 1, were compared by immunoblotting, ELISA, inhibition ELISA, basophil activation by flow cytometry and molecular modeling. Results Differences in antibody recognition of allergenic components between Bahia grass and Ryegrass pollen were observed by immunoblotting. Eight grass pollen-allergic patients from a temperate region showed greater serum IgE reactivity with Ryegrass pollen than Bahia grass by ELISA. For seven of these sera, Ryegrass pollen inhibited IgE reactivity with Bahia grass pollen but not the converse. For 51 sera from grass pollen-allergic patients in this temperate region, IgE reactivity with Lol p 1 was greater than Pas n 1 or Cyn d 1. IgE reactivity with Lol p 1 was not inhibited by Pas n 1 or Cyn d 1, but Pas n 1 IgE reactivity was inhibited by Lol p 1. Two group 1 grass pollen allergen-specific mAb distinguished between temperate and subtropical grass pollens. Basophil activation for three patients tested was greater by Ryegrass pollen than Bahia or Bermuda grass, and by Lol p 1 than Pas n 1 or Cyn d 1. In contrast, two patients from a subtropical region had higher serum IgE reactivity with Bahia grass pollen than Ryegrass and Bahia grass pollen inhibited IgE reactivity with Ryegrass. A structural model of Pas n 1 showed amino acids implicated in IgE epitopes of other group 1 allergens were juxtaposed on the surface. Conclusion Allergens from subtropical Bahia grass pollen, including Pas n 1, share antigenic determinants with temperate grass pollen allergens, but patients exhibit higher serum IgE reactivity to their locally predominant grass pollen. Basophil activation by Bahia grass pollen and Pas n 1 in patients from a temperate climate indicates clinically relevant cross-sensitization between temperate and subtropical grass pollens.