Altered copy

In 2008, Jenny Roche commissioned Jodi Melnick to make the solo Business of the Bloom on her. Four years later, Roche re-enters this piece and draws on their many years of working together to inhabits its ideas and impulses from a new perspective. In this new 'altered copy', Roche refers to this previous work; embellishing, redirecting and abstracting moments. By reinterpreting both her earlier self and footage of Melnick dancing a reworked version of the solo in performance, Roche connects with the polyvalent nature of both interpretation and memory. This reworked version outlines the relationship that dancers have to movement traces that circulate after a dancing event. Suzanne Ravn (2009) found that dancers experienced the reapperance of movement traces from previous works when moving. Martin Nachbar (2012) writing from his first-person perspective as a dancer, describes the dancer who discerns between the past of movement that is remembered and the current moment of its performance. He outlines how past and present movement experiences cohabitate in the embodied present. Timmy de Laet (2012) identifies the emerging trait of re-enactment in contemporary dance, in which contemporary artists such as Nachbar dialogue with past choreographies to comment on the various mnemonic dimensions of dance. De Laet (2012) explains that the function of these works are not to preserve the past choreographies as might be achieved through reconstruction but to contemplate creatively issues of ephemerality and preservation of dance. Altered copy addresses this dialogue between the past and present body.

Intervertebral staple grading system with micro-CT

Introduction Intervertebral stapling is a leading method of fusionless scoliosis treatment which attempts to control growth by applying pressure to the convex side of a scoliotic curve in accordance with the Hueter-Volkmann principle. In addition to that, staples have the potential to damage surrounding bone during insertion and subsequent loading. The aim of this study was to assess the extent of bony structural damage including epiphyseal injury as a result of intervertebral stapling using an in vitro bovine model. Materials and Methods Thoracic spines from 6-8 week old calves were dissected and divided into motion segments including levels T4-T11 (n=14). Each segment was potted in polymethylemethacrylate. An Instron Biaxial materials testing machine with a custom made jig was used for testing. The segments were tested in flexion/extension, lateral bending and axial rotation at 37⁰C and 100% humidity, using moment control to a maximum 1.75 Nm with a loading rate of 0.3 Nm per second for 10 cycles. The segments were initially tested uninstrumented with data collected from the tenth load cycle. Next an anterolateral 4-prong Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) staple (Medtronic Sofamor Danek, USA) was inserted into each segment. Biomechanical testing was repeated as before. The staples were cut in half with a diamond saw and carefully removed. Micro-CT scans were performed and sagittal, transverse and coronal reformatted images were produced using ImageJ (NIH, USA).The specimens were divided into 3 grades (0, 1 and 2) according to the number of epiphyses damaged by the staple prongs. Results: There were 9 (65%) segments with grade 1 staple insertions and 5 (35%) segments with grade 2 insertions. There were no grade 0 staples. Grade 2 spines had a higher stiffness level than grade 1 spines, in all axes of movement, by 28% (p=0.004). This was most noted in flexion/extension with an increase of 49% (p=0.042), followed by non-significant change in lateral bending 19% (p=0.129) and axial rotation 8% (p=0.456) stiffness. The cross sectional area of bone destruction from the prongs was only 0.4% larger in the grade 2 group compared to the grade 1 group (p=0.961). Conclusion Intervertebral staples cause epiphyseal damage. There is a difference in stiffness between grade 1 and grade 2 staple insertion segments in flexion/extension only. There is no difference in the cross section of bone destruction as a result of prong insertion and segment motion.

The effect of intervertebral staple insertion on bovine spine segment stiffness

Introduction There is growing interest in the biomechanics of ‘fusionless’ implant constructs used for deformity correction in the thoracic spine. Intervertebral stapling is a leading method of fusionless corrective surgery. Although used for a number of years, there is limited evidence as to the effect these staples have on the stiffness of the functional spinal unit. Materials and Methods Thoracic spines from 6-8 week old calves were dissected and divided into motion segments including levels T4-T11 (n=14). Each segment was potted in polymethylemethacrylate. An Instron Biaxial materials testing machine with a custom made jig was used for testing. The segments were tested in flexion/extension, lateral bending and axial rotation at 37⁰C and 100% humidity, using moment control to a maximum 1.75 Nm with a loading rate of 0.3 Nm per second. This torque was found sufficient to achieve physiologically representative ranges of movement. The segments were initially tested uninstrumented with data collected from the tenth load cycle. Next a left anterolateral Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) staple was inserted (Medtronic Sofamor Danek, USA). Biomechanical testing was repeated as before with data collected from the tenth load cycle. Results In flexion/extension there was an insignificant drop in stiffness of 3% (p=0.478). In lateral bending there was a significant drop in stiffness of 21% (p<0.001). This was mainly in lateral bending away from the staple, where the stiffness reduced by 30% (p<0.001). This was in contrast to lateral bending towards the staple where it dropped by 12% which was still statistically significant (p=0.036). In axial rotation there was an overall near significant drop in stiffness of 11% (p=0.076). However, this was more towards the side of the staple measuring a decrease of 14% as opposed to 8% away from the staple. In both cases it was a statistically insignificant drop (p=0.134 and p=0.352 respectively). Conclusion Insertion of intervertebral SMA staples results in a significant reduction in motion segment stiffness in lateral bending especially in the direction away from the staple. The staple had less effect on axial rotation stiffness and minimal effect on flexion/extension stiffness.

Simultaneous localization and planning on multiple map hypotheses

This paper presents a novel method to rank map hypotheses by the quality of localization they afford. The highest ranked hypothesis at any moment becomes the active representation that is used to guide the robot to its goal location. A single static representation is insufficient for navigation in dynamic environments where paths can be blocked periodically, a common scenario which poses significant challenges for typical planners. In our approach we simultaneously rank multiple map hypotheses by the influence that localization in each of them has on locally accurate odometry. This is done online for the current locally accurate window by formulating a factor graph of odometry relaxed by localization constraints. Comparison of the resulting perturbed odometry of each hypothesis with the original odometry yields a score that can be used to rank map hypotheses by their utility. We deploy the proposed approach on a real robot navigating a structurally noisy office environment. The configuration of the environment is physically altered outside the robots sensory horizon during navigation tasks to demonstrate the proposed approach of hypothesis selection.

Productivity analysis with CO2 emissions in Japan

This article measures Japanese prefectures' productivity from 1991 to 2002, taking CO2 emissions into consideration, and examines the factors that impact on productivity. We use the data envelopment analysis and measure the Luenberger productivity indicator, incorporating CO2 emissions in the analysis. Our results show that productivity was decreasing during the period of investigation. According to the results of the generalized method of moment estimation, the operations rate, the share of the energy intensive industries and social capital significantly impact on productivity.

Comparison of eight published static finite element models of the intact lumbar spine : predictive power of models improves when combined together

Finite element (FE) model studies have made important contributions to our understanding of functional biomechanics of the lumbar spine. However, if a model is used to answer clinical and biomechanical questions over a certain population, their inherently large inter-subject variability has to be considered. Current FE model studies, however, generally account only for a single distinct spinal geometry with one set of material properties. This raises questions concerning their predictive power, their range of results and on their agreement with in vitro and in vivo values. Eight well-established FE models of the lumbar spine (L1-5) of different research centres around the globe were subjected to pure and combined loading modes and compared to in vitro and in vivo measurements for intervertebral rotations, disc pressures and facet joint forces. Under pure moment loading, the predicted L1-5 rotations of almost all models fell within the reported in vitro ranges, and their median values differed on average by only 2° for flexion-extension, 1° for lateral bending and 5° for axial rotation. Predicted median facet joint forces and disc pressures were also in good agreement with published median in vitro values. However, the ranges of predictions were larger and exceeded those reported in vitro, especially for the facet joint forces. For all combined loading modes, except for flexion, predicted median segmental intervertebral rotations and disc pressures were in good agreement with measured in vivo values. In light of high inter-subject variability, the generalization of results of a single model to a population remains a concern. This study demonstrated that the pooled median of individual model results, similar to a probabilistic approach, can be used as an improved predictive tool in order to estimate the response of the lumbar spine.

Learning from Eames : six lessons

"Eventually everything connects—people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key toquality per se.” (Charles Eames) On 8 November, 2007, in a moment charged with serendipity, an Exhibition titled ‘The Gifted Eye of Charles Eames—A Portfolio of 100 images’ was opened exclusively to Brisbane. The Artisan Gallery in Fortitude Valley became the launch point for an international orbit of Fringe locations hosting one of 18 sets of 100 images each...

Perfect start to a river cruise

A travel article about Amsterdam. BY COINCIDENCE, I flew to Amsterdam a week after I'd read Ian McEwan's novel of the same name. Amsterdam is a modern take on the theme of duelling and, in many ways, he couldn't have chosen a more appropriate place for his title. This is a city that duels with itself. I flew in at dawn, traditionally the moment to test your abilities at 10 paces. The countryside below was dark but blocks of orange light pulsed in the fields...

Kari Gislason's response to the Ottoman Motel by Christopher Currie [The Art of Vanishing Parents]

A review of The Ottoman Hotel by Christopher Currie (Text Publishing, 2011). There is more than one moment in life when parents disappear. Teenagers routinely wish them away. Young adults at university return to find they have been abandoned, their possessions boxed, labelled and stored, their bedrooms turned into guest accommodation sometimes featuring lavender. You call your parents and they're not home. Your mother doesn't accept your friend request...

Popular Science

Review of The Anatomist by Bill Hayes (Scribe, 2008). Bill Hayes wanted to write about Henry Gray, the author of Gray's Anatomy (1858), which at least until the television series connoted a standard text for anatomy students. Perhaps even more seductive for the biographer than the book's enduring appeal was a sense that Gray himself had partly disappeared from the historical record. Here was a scientist with the sort of brilliant young mind that seemed a specialty of the Victorian Age, and yet one who had not benefited from that period's compulsive documenting of the men of the moment and their deeds. Surely in that mystery there lay a narrative...

Relics, 2007, in touring exhibition, Selectively Revealed, 2012

“Selectively Revealed investigates the blurry line between the public and the private in artistic practice. The artist is presented as voyeur, muse, subject, performer and social commentator. Using a variety of screen based practices, each artist pushes and pulls at the notion of what is private and what is public, choosing precisely what, when, how or when not to reveal their subjects or themselves. Ultimately, everything is presented for scrutiny; an innermost feeling, a personal moment, a fear or failure, an everyday encounter, an experience of rapture, a banal endeavour. Much is revealed, celebrated and critiqued.” Sarah Bond (Asialink) and Clare Needham (Experimenta)

Mapping the unmappable

Mapping the Unmappable? the Choreography Shared Material on Dying through the Lens of the Technogenetic Dancer. If choreographic movement is a trace, which is already behind at the moment of its appearance, the impulses that move the dancer could be understood to reside in the virtual. Whether they are the internalized instructions of the choreographer, the inscriptions of concepts on the dancing body which shape how the dancer moves, or movement material that has been incorporated over time, this gestalt is somewhat mapped before is materialized. Erin Manning describes the moment before it manifests as the preacceleration of the movement, when the potentialities of the gesture collapse and stabilize into form. This form is transient, appearing as a trace that is dissolving as soon as it appears. In her critique of some approaches to collaborations between dance and technology she describes technology as a prosthetic that constrains the dancer's movement by inducing this collapse into stability and thus limiting the potentiality of the technogenetic body of the dancer. Thus the technology becomes the focus rather than the sophisticated sensorial skills of the dancer in movement. Using this challenge as a provocation, I have explored methods for mapping a choreographed phrase of movement from the piece entitled Shared Material on Dying by Irish choreographer, Liz Roche. I will explore the virtual space before this dance is materialized, through the frame of a technogenetic body. I will uncover, through phenomenological enquiry, the constituent elements that are embedded in this virtual map, that is, the associations, sensations and spatio-temporal reference points that have been incorporated over time. The purpose is to point to possible directions in mapping the virtual dance space and to understand choreographed movements not just in terms of their material trace but also in terms of the associations, sensations and perceptions that give a specific choreography its identity. This undertaking has relevance for archiving dance. This presentation will involve danced choreography alongside documented material to explore multiple perspectives on the piece and the experience of dancing it.

Introduction : studying Indonesian media worlds at the intersections of area and cultural studies

When preparing this special issue,1 our discussions with the editorial board of the International Journal of Cultural Studies (IJCS) included a moment of simultaneous surprise and reflection, which we would like to use as a starting point for our introduction to the articles appearing here. This occurred during communications about the number and length of the articles required for a special issue. The board’s representative stipulated that a specific number of articles were to be written by Indonesian scholars. The request surprised us. We had neither discussed nor anticipated ethnic or national quotas for authorial participation. But although the request caught us off guard it also stimulated us to think about the two disciplinary terrains traversed in the articles to follow.

Making scenes : Reggae, punk, and death metal in 1990s Bali

In 1996, Emma Baulch went to live in Bali to do research on youth culture. Her chats with young people led her to an enormously popular regular outdoor show dominated by local reggae, punk, and death metal bands. In this rich ethnography, she takes readers inside each scene: hanging out in the death metal scene among unemployed university graduates clad in black T-shirts and ragged jeans; in the punk scene among young men sporting mohawks, leather jackets, and hefty jackboots; and among the remnants of the local reggae scene in Kuta Beach, the island’s most renowned tourist area. Baulch tracks how each music scene arrived and grew in Bali, looking at such influences as the global extreme metal underground, MTV Asia, and the internationalization of Indonesia’s music industry. Making Scenes is an exploration of the subtle politics of identity that took place within and among these scenes throughout the course of the 1990s. Participants in the different scenes often explained their interest in death metal, punk, or reggae in relation to broader ideas about what it meant to be Balinese, which reflected views about Bali’s tourism industry and the cultural dominance of Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital and largest city. Through dance, dress, claims to public spaces, and onstage performances, participants and enthusiasts reworked “Balinese-ness” by synthesizing global media, ideas of national belonging, and local identity politics. Making Scenes chronicles the creation of subcultures at a historical moment when media globalization and the gradual demise of the authoritarian Suharto regime coincided with revitalized, essentialist formulations of the Balinese self.

Repeatability of static load bearing exercises during rehabilitation of individuals with transfemoral amputation fitted with osseointegrated implant

Bone-anchored prostheses, relying on implants to attach the prosthesis directly to the residual skeleton, are the ultimate resort for patients with transfemoral amputations (TFA) experiencing severe socket discomfort. The first patient receiving a bone-anchored prosthesis underwent the surgery in 1990 in the Sahlgrenska University Hospital (Sweden). To date, there are two commercially available implants: OPRA (Integrum, Sweden) and ILP (Orthodynamics, Germany). The key to success to this technique is a firm bone-implant bonding, depending on increasing mechanical stress applied daily during load bearing exercises (LBE). The loading data could be analysed through different biomechanical variables. The intra-tester reliability of these exercises will be presented here. Moreover the effect of increase of loading, axes of application of the load and body weight as well as the difference between force and moment variables will be discussed.