Perceptive variation of carboxylate ligand and probing the influence of substitution pattern on the structure of mono- and di-butylstannoxane complexes

By reacting 2- and 3-aminobenzoic acids (HL1 and HL2, respectively), as well as 2-, 3- and 4-((E)-2-[4-(dimethylamino)phenyl]diazenyl)benzoic acids (HL3, HL4 and HL5, in this order) with a n-butyltin(IV) source [ n BuSn(O)OH or n Bu2SnO], the drum-type butylstannoxane complexes of general composition [ n Bu6Sn6O6(L n )6] [L n =L1 (1), L2 (2) and L3 (3)] and the ladder-type compounds [ n Bu8Sn4O2(L n )4] [L n =L3 (5), L4 (6) and L5 (7)] were obtained and fully characterized. By reacting 1 with 2-((E)-[4-(dimethylamino)benzylidene]amino)benzoic acid (HL6), a co-crystal (4) was achieved which comprises the metal complex aggregate found in 1 and the neutral HL6 molecule. The solution properties of the compounds were assessed from 1H and 13C NMR studies and, for the metal complexes, also from 119Sn NMR. The molecular structures of 1, 2, 4-7 were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Compounds 1-3 and the complex moiety of 4 display hexameric Sn6O6 clusters with drum-like structures, but 5-7 reveal Sn4O2 cores with ladder-type structural motifs. Besides the observed relationship between the ligand N-functional group and obtained (drum- or ladder-type) assemblies, the relative position of the carboxylate group in the ligand itself influences its coplanarity.

The hybrid stranger and cosmopolitan self

The paper critically identifies and examines the affinities between the category of the stranger & the cosmopolitan attitude/disposition that underlies recent theories of cosmopolitanism. I argue that the cosmopolitan attitude can be located within the sociological discourse of the stranger. Thus one needs to reconceptualise the cosmopolitan self in terms of the cosmopolitan stranger.

This new subject develops a more perceptive, broader and keener insight of the social world that is not available than those confined to a universalistic or particularistic perspective. The final part of the paper challenges this assertion through a critical assessment of the socalled in-between position occupied by the cosmopolitan stranger.

A hybrid Kansei engineering system using the self-organizing map neural network

Kansei Engineering (KE), a technology founded in Japan initially for product design, translates human feelings into design parameters. Although various intelligent approaches to objectively model human functions and therelationships with the product design decisions have been introduced in KE systems, many or the approaches are not able to incorporate human subjective feelings and preferenees into the decision-making process. This paper proposes a new hybrid KE system that attempts to make the machine-based decision-making process closely resembles the real-world practice. The proposed approach assimilates human perceptive and associative abililities into the decision-making process of the computer. A number of techniques based on the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) neural network are employed in the backward KE system to reveal the underlying data structures that are involved in the decision-making process. A case study on interior design is presented to evaluate the efficacy of the proposed approach. The results obtained demonstrate tbe effectiveness of the proposed approach in developing an intelligent KE system which is able to combine huiiUUI feelings and preferences into its decision making process.

Checked baggage: spatial negotiations in contemporary air travel

This paper examines the act of undertaking international air travel and analyses how it forces individuals to consider a range of ideas as a result of dislocation and attempts to re-align themselves within spatial, material and biological structures. In order to balance the shifts between spatial and material experiences, travellers employ imaginative and perceptive procedures, gaining knowledge through experience. At the intersection of participatory and spatial boundaries through the lens of multi-disciplinary literature, this paper explores how practices of individuals within international air travel provides alternative modes of thinking and navigating through personal, cultural and globalised public spaces.

Perceptions of Place - evaluating experiential qualities of streetscapes

Working with a small set of 60 images from a collection of over 1000 digital photographs, the following paper presents ongoing research into the experiential qualities of street scapes. This paper examines the initial results of a survey of 75 voluntary based perceptive studies and focusses on a sample cohort of 30 participants (20 cognate and 10 non-cognate respondents) who were asked to evaluate a streetscape experience based on favourable and unfavourable perceptive qualities. Using a spatial sequencing process, akin to the 'Serial Vision' methodology of Gordon Cullen, respondents were asked to rate a section of urban fabric based on favourable (hot or warm) and unfavourable (cold or cool) traits and to digitally capture these images. The study yields results which highlight the importance of the quality and effect of green attributes within the overall street scape experience. The implications for urban design practice (streetscape greening), are briefly explored.

The cosmopolitan stranger

The chapter contributes to a critical discussion of cosmopolitanism by examining the affinities between the cosmopolitan subject and the stranger as conceptualized in the social sciences. The similarities between these two social actors are manifested in the cosmopolitan outlook/disposition espoused in contemporary versions of cosmopolitanism. Drawing on the work of Simmel and Bauman, the chapter outlines the major characteristics of the stranger and, through an investigation of various cosmopolitan thinkers, we delineate a cosmopolitan world-view. This comparison leads to my central thesis that a new social type has emerged which can be categorized as the cosmopolitan stranger. The chapter demonstrates how cosmopolitan strangers develop a more perceptive, broader and keener insight than those confined to either a particular or universal perspective. As a consequence of this enlightened view, these new social actors undermine binary logic and the essentialism underpinning ‘standpoint epistemology’. We begin with an investigation of the stranger in sociology, and then provide a brief examination of the major attributes of the cosmopolitan disposition and conclude with a critical assessment of the cosmopolitan stranger.

Dont look back

The award-winning film Don't Look Back (1967) captures Bob Dylan on tour and on the cusp of change in 1965. Dylan was rapidly shedding his image as a folk musician and being reborn as a rock persona – and D. A. Pennebaker was there to record this fascinating transformation.This insightful book charts the ways in which Pennebaker revised aspects of observational 'direct cinema', a style of film-making that he helped to pioneer, in order to represent in innovative ways Dylan's onstage performances and backstage actions. Keith Beattie's perceptive and nuanced analysis explains the relationship between 'pose' and the performative presentation of 'persona', which forms the basis of the film's portrayal, and explores Pennebaker's relationship with Dylan in the film-making process. In doing so, the book highlights many remarkable moments fromDont Look Back and demonstrates how this landmark film eschewed the informationalism of the documentary form, revealing a captivating portrait of its beguiling subject.