Why we need new spectacles: Mapping the experiential dimension in prehistoric Cretan landscapes

The Bronze to Iron Age transition in Crete, a period of state collapse and insecurity, saw the island's rugged, high-contrast topography used in striking new ways. The visual drama of many of the new site locations has stimulated significant research over the last hundred years, with explanation of the change as the main focus. The new sites are not monumental in character: the vast majority are settlements, and much of the information about them comes from survey. Perhaps as a result, the new site map has not been much studied from phenomenological perspectives. A focus on the visual and experiential aspects of the new landscape can offer valuable insights into social structures at this period, and illuminate social developments prefiguring the emergence of polis states in Crete by c. 700 BC. To develop, share and evaluate this type of integrated study, digital reconstructive techniques are still under-used in this region. I highlight their potential value in addressing a regularly-identified shortcoming of phenomenological approaches-their necessarily subjective emphasis.

Why we need new spectacles: Mapping the experiential dimension in prehistoric Cretan landscapes

The Bronze to Iron Age transition in Crete, a period of state collapse and insecurity, saw the island's rugged, high-contrast topography used in striking new ways. The visual drama of many of the new site locations has stimulated significant research over the last hundred years, with explanation of the change as the main focus. The new sites are not monumental in character: the vast majority are settlements, and much of the information about them comes from survey. Perhaps as a result, the new site map has not been much studied from phenomenological perspectives. A focus on the visual and experiential aspects of the new landscape can offer valuable insights into social structures at this period, and illuminate social developments prefiguring the emergence of polis states in Crete by c. 700 BC. To develop, share and evaluate this type of integrated study, digital reconstructive techniques are still under-used in this region. I highlight their potential value in addressing a regularly-identified shortcoming of phenomenological approaches-their necessarily subjective emphasis.

Unification of the probe and singular sources methods for the inverse boundary value problem by the no-response test

In this article, we use the no-response test idea, introduced in Luke and Potthast (2003) and Potthast (Preprint) and the inverse obstacle problem, to identify the interface of the discontinuity of the coefficient gamma of the equation del (.) gamma(x)del + c(x) with piecewise regular gamma and bounded function c(x). We use infinitely many Cauchy data as measurement and give a reconstructive method to localize the interface. We will base this multiwave version of the no-response test on two different proofs. The first one contains a pointwise estimate as used by the singular sources method. The second one is built on an energy (or an integral) estimate which is the basis of the probe method. As a conclusion of this, the probe and the singular sources methods are equivalent regarding their convergence and the no-response test can be seen as a unified framework for these methods. As a further contribution, we provide a formula to reconstruct the values of the jump of gamma(x), x is an element of partial derivative D at the boundary. A second consequence of this formula is that the blow-up rate of the indicator functions of the probe and singular sources methods at the interface is given by the order of the singularity of the fundamental solution.

Synthesis of labelled dihydroartemisinic acid

[15-(CH3)-C-13-H-2]-Dihydroartemisinic acid (2a), [15-(CH3)-H-2]-dihydroartemisinic acid (2b) and [15-(CH3)-C-13]-dihydroartemisinic acid (2c) have been obtained in good yield and high isotopic enrichment by a reconstructive synthesis from artemisinin. These labelled compounds were designed to be used in biosynthetic experiments to determine the origins of artemisinin and other sesquiterpene natural products from Artemisia annua. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Peroxynitrite-modified collagen-II induces p38/ERK and NF-kappa B-dependent synthesis of prostaglandin E-2 and nitric oxide in chondrogenically differentiated mesenchyrnal progenitor cells

Objective: Peroxynitrite (ONOO-) is formed in the inflamed and degenerating human joint. Peroxynitrite-modified collagen-II (PMC-II) was recently discovered in the serum of patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Therefore we investigated the cellular effects of PMC-II on human mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs) as a model of cartilage and cartilage repair cells in the inflamed and degenerating joint. Design: MPCs were isolated from the trabecular bone of patients undergoing reconstructive surgery and were differentiated into a chondrogenic lineage. Cells were exposed to PMC-II and levels of the proinflammatory mediators nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E-2 (PGE(2)) measured. Levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), phosphorylated mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B) activation were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) together with specific MAPK and NF-kappa B inhibitors. Results: PMC-II induced NO and PGE(2) synthesis through upregulation of iNOS and COX-2 proteins. PMC-II also lead to the phosphorylation of MAPKs, extracellularly regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and p38 [but not c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK1/2)] and the activation of proinflammatory transcription factor NF-kappa B. Inhibitors of p38, ERK1/2 and NF-kappa B prevented PMC-II induced NO and PGE(2) synthesis, NOS and COX-2 protein expression and NF-kappa B activation. Conclusion: iNOS, COX-2, NF-KB and MAPK are known to be activated in the joints of patients with OA and RA. PMC-II induced iNOS and COX-2 synthesis through p38, ERK1/2 and NF-KB dependent pathways suggesting a previously unidentified pathway for the synthesis of the proinflammatory mediators, NO and PGE(2), further suggesting that inhibitors of these pathways may be therapeutic in the inflamed and degenerating human joint. (c) 2005 OsteoArthritis Research Society International. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Paddy Hartley: of faces and facades

Paddy Hartley's work is primarily concerned with the ways in which the human face can be repaired, manipulated and recontextualised, and the questions these processes raise about our concepts of beauty and disfigurement. Incorporating surgical and pharmaceutical equipment as well as steel, scrap metal, digital embroidery and textiles, Hartley sets out a critique of how we think about the face today. Taking as a starting point records of facially injured servicemen of the First World War and the pioneering surgery they underwent, Project Facade examines the impact of disfigurement on the human psyche, as well as tracing the development of early facial reconstructive surgery. His Face Corsets, meanwhile, examines attitudes towards cosmetic surgery and the beauty industry, providing a non-surgical means to brutally mimic the results of cosmetic procedures and beyond. The series gained notoriety and success in a wide variety of popular publications both nationally and internationally, and continue to feature in contemporary textiles and fashion publications. Paddy Hartley: Of Faces and Facades brings together these works in book form for the first time, presenting previously unpublished texts from David Houston Jones and Marjorie Gehrhardt, as well as drawings and photographs which document a remarkable creative process and a history that is still insufficiently explored.